We the undersigned are petitioning to have %u201CTrauma%u201D removed from the air. It is an insult to our profession, completely inaccurate as far as the treatment of patients, (the only remotely accurate portrayal in the first episode, the new guy gets made fun of) it seems the producers did not even try to be accurate!
I am a career Paramedic, working for the last ten years on the streets of New York. In my time I have seen many horrific and unimaginable things, but nothing as horrific and unimaginable as NBC%u2019s new drama %u201CTrauma%u201D!
Writer and creator Dario Scardapane (IMBD.com) has attempted to create yet another stylized drama on the lives and work of Paramedics and EMT%u2019s, concentrating on unrealistic dramatic moments, the ever present catchy music and the unrealistically exciting work place that is EMS. According to his bio on IMBD.com, he has not written a medical based drama before, and he has missed the mark completely with this one.
While EMS can be an exciting and challenging profession, what the public should see is the routine, day to day assistance we provide to the populations of our various cities. True drama in our profession revolves around not only dealing with death and the sick and injured, there is long hours with little reward or respect, everything we do is questioned and whatever goes wrong the finger is pointed at us. How about trying to raise a family on a Paramedic%u2019s average nationwide salary of $38,523 (Salary.com), just to name a few.
Mr. Jeff Covitz is credited as being the %u201CParamedic Advisor%u201D, his bio on IMBD.com is short to say the least, is this gentleman even a paramedic? If so, I certainly wouldn%u2019t want him treating me!
The on-set medic, Mark Bosia is a San Francisco Paramedic; I make an appeal to him to speak up and show the producers how bad this show is.
Those of us in the Emergency Services have tried very hard to gain the respect of the public, fire departments, police departments, doctors and nurses, and this kind of nonsensical dramatic portrayal of us sets our profession back fifteen or twenty years. If the general population watches this show and believes that his is the way we behave, no one will ever call for an ambulance again!
Thank you for taking the time to read this letter.
