notebooks Esteve Foundation 42

Television fiction viewed from the perspective Medicine in Television Series of medical professionals

House and Medical Diagnosis. Lisa Sanders Editor: Toni de la Torre The Knick and Surgical Techniques. Leire Losa

The Sopranos and Psychoanalysis. Oriol Estrada Rangil

The Big Bang Theory and Asperger’s Syndrome. Ramon Cererols

Breaking Bad and Methamphetamine Addiction. Patricia Robledo

Mad Men and Tobacco Addiction. Joan R. Villalbí

The Walking Dead and Epidemics in the Collective Imagination. Josep M. Comelles and Enrique Perdiguero Gil

Angels in America, The Normal Heart and Positius: HIV and AIDS in Television Series. Aina Clotet and Marc Clotet, under the supervision of Bonaventura Clotet

Nip/Tuck, Grey’s Anatomy and Plastic Surgery. María del Mar Vaquero Pérez

Masters of Sex and Sexology. Helena Boadas

CSI and Forensic Medicine. Adriana Farré, Marta Torrens, Josep-Eladi Baños and Magí Farré

Homeland and the Emotional Sphere. Liana Vehil and Luis Lalucat Series Medicine in Television

Olive Kitteridge and Depression. Oriol Estrada Rangil

True Detective and the Attraction of Evil. Luis Lalucat and Liana Vehil

Polseres vermelles and Cancer. Pere Gascón i Vilaplana

ISBN: 978-84-945061-9-2 9 788494 506192 42 Notebooks of the Esteve Foundation Nº 42

The Knick and Surgical Techniques

Leire Losa

The one thing , winner of an Oscar for Best Director in 2001 for Traffic, had not de- clared when he announced his withdrawal from the film world in 2013 was that he was transferring his unique aesthetic to cable TV, to join a growing list of film directors who are investing their talent in this far less interventionist medium. This is what he has done in this historical drama that takes us back to the beginnings of modern surgery in a highly unconventional way. It is set in a New York hospital in the early twentieth century, and has an even more unusual protagonist: a reputable surgeon who is addicted to co- caine, played by (Closer, Children of Men). Its popularity has raised visibility for HBO’s younger sibling: the action channel aimed at the male audience.

The Manhattan Dispensary was a hospital found- inition of a surgeon is attributed, along with his ed in Harlem, New York, in 1862, which survived modus operandi: “The things relating to surgery until 1979. Throughout its history it received dif- are: the patient; the operator; the assistants; the ferent names, but was known from 1913 onward instruments; the light, where and how; how many as the Knickerbocker Hospital. This is where the things, and how; where the body, and the instru- series’ action is set, in 1900, taking as its main ments; the time; the manner; the place. The op- narrative referent the early steps of modern sur- erator is either sitting or standing, conveniently gery and efforts to improve it technically. for himself, for the person operated upon, for To understand this period, one needs to briefly the light... The nails should be neither longer nor review the history of surgical evolution from its shorter than the points of the fingers; and the sur- beginnings. Back then, surgeons were consid- geon should practice with the extremities of the ered technicians, and were not always qualified, fingers, the index-finger being usually turned to in contrast to doctors, who were the true healers. the thumb; one should practice all sorts of work However, it could be said that both disciplines with either of them... endeavoring to do them have always been closely related. well, elegantly, quickly, without trouble, neatly, According to archaeological and anthropolog- and promptly.” ical studies, the earliest surgical techniques were Galen of Pergamon was known above all for employed to treat wounds and injuries. They in- being the p