Heart Health

How well do TV medical dramas portray heart disease?

These popular programs rely on health care experts — including Harvard doctors — to make sure the medical details are correct.

By , Executive Editor, Harvard Heart Letter
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In an image from the MAX show The Pitt, actors portraying doctors pretend to perform CPR on a patient in a hospital emergency room.

If you're among the millions of people captivated by TV medical dramas, you might wonder how accurately these shows depict heart-related problems and their treatment. As with almost everything on the small (and big) screen, timelines are often accelerated, and certain aspects may be dramatized to engage viewers. But by and large, the medical details are factual and authentic.

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About the Author

photo of Julie Corliss

Julie Corliss, Executive Editor, Harvard Heart Letter

Julie Corliss is the executive editor of the Harvard Heart Letter. Before working at Harvard, she was a medical writer and editor at HealthNews, a consumer newsletter affiliated with The New England Journal of Medicine. She … See Full Bio
View all posts by Julie Corliss

About the Reviewer

photo of Christopher P. Cannon, MD

Christopher P. Cannon, MD, Editor in Chief, Harvard Heart Letter; Editorial Advisory Board Member, Harvard Health Publishing

Dr. Christopher P. Cannon is editor in chief of the Harvard Heart Letter. He is a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, and senior physician in the Preventive Cardiology section of the Cardiovascular Division at … See Full Bio
View all posts by Christopher P. Cannon, MD
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