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50:169 Doctors in Film

Film Notes

The Hospital

Notes by Suzanne Poirier:

Consider "The Hospital" in light of Fitzhugh Mullan's, White Coat, Clenched Fist: The Political Education of an American Physician (New York: Macmillan, 1976). I’ve seen nothing to credit the experiences that Mullan writes about as the source for Paddy Chayevsky’s screenplay for The Hospital, but the parallels are strong enough to give an interesting counter-perspective on the events of the film.

Mullan was a resident at Jacobi Hospital in New York (part of the Albert Einstein Medical School) complex in 1968-‘71. He came there from a background of activism in the civil rights movement and early efforts for community activism around medical issues at the University of Chicago, where he was a medical student. His interest in being a public health- and rights-activist followed him to his residency, where he spent his first year becoming active in the residents’ union in NYC (I believe the first such union in the US). From there, he and a group of like-minded residents deliberately transferred to Lincoln Hospital, a beleaguered “charity” hospital in the Einstein system, which had been the subject of much attack from community activist groups for its lack of responsiveness to the community. Shortly after the residents arrived, an activist Puerto Rican group “liberated” the hospital (i.e., occupied it and began some immediate programs for patients and community members).

The residents joined with them in a unique (and rocky) experiment to work together to make the hospital more responsive to the community’s needs). The experiment eventually dissipated, but Mullan’s analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of both The Collective, as the health professionals’ arm of the organization came to be called, and the hospital administration (which included a famous teacher and Chief of Pediatrics, who initially supported the residents’ desires but was ultimately removed because he could not adapt his authoritarian style to the new needs of the program) offers a fascinating comparison with Chayevsky’s film.

A good on-line synopsis of The Hospital has not yet turned up. Volunteers?

Questions for discussion:

• Both the hospital and Dr. Bock seem to be coming apart. Are the reasons connected?
• What does the film stress as the main dysfunctions in the hospital? of the "medical system" as a whole?
• How does Dr. Bock interact with patients? with medical students and residents?
• What are the gender stereotypes played upon in this film?
• Note how the community outrage is portrayed - which of the hospital staff appear to participate in protests?
• Was Dr. Bock an "impaired" physician?
• What is the final "message" of the film for the public audience?

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