Filed under: child abuse, child neglect, Child Protective Services, hospital, hospital social work, MSW, social work | Tags: CPS, hospital drama, media, TV
So, don’t ask me why I watch hospital-based TV shows. I know, I work in a hospital…I should have my fill. But, nevertheless, I still like them. I still like them, even when they portray social workers in a rather negative light.
So, I was intrigued by this new show, Hawthorne, on TNT. It goes at hospitals from the nurses’ prespective, with the main character being the head of nursing services. I won’t go into all the ways the show wasn’t true to what goes on in hospital. That can be said about any hospital show. Anyway…I just got done watching the pilot episode.
In the pilot episode, there was a social worker involved. Maybe I shouldn’t get all up in arms because they didn’t come right out and declare this character a social worker, but it was implied. Essentially, and I’m sorry if you have recorded this show and haven’t had a chance to watch it, a mentally ill, homeless woman (who has previously been befriended by the title character) shows up with a newborn infant at the hospital. The title character sort of convinces her to let the baby be brought into the hospital for medical evaluation.
So, they get the baby inside and the social work-y character is implying that she will be contacting CPS. Of course, the title character responds (paraphrasing here), “Why? She didn’t do anything wrong!” There is some protest from social work-y character and then agrees to wait a bit before contacting the authorities.
Of course, I’m flabergasted….the woman hasn’t done anything wrong? At this point, they don’t realize that the baby is actually the mentally ill, homeless woman’s baby, they think it’s a foundling. So, there’s nothing WRONG with finding a baby and then taxi-ing it around in a shoping cart? WTF?? And, who is going to get this mentally ill, homeless woman the services she needs to be able to parent safely (once they realize she’s the true parent of the baby)?
So, it just has me frustrated with how social workers are portrayed on TV. Is it because people really don’t understand what it is we do? Is it because shows always need either a dummy or a villain? I don’t know…but I’ll watch again to see if social work-y character is part of the story line again and what role she will play.
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Amy's Life in Brief 
I’m not sure if I’m going to watch Hawthorne, though from the sounds of it I might take a permanent pass…
I did watch the first episode of Edie Falco’s Nurse Jackie. I was definitely intrigued, we are watching it via downloads (we have a don’t ask, don’t tell policy when it comes to where Jim gets movies and tv shows from) because we don’t have showtime but so far I’d definitely recommend it.
Comment by Kia June 18, 2009 @ 12:00 pmDespite loving “ER” for all 15 seasons, I hated it every single time they brought a social worker on the set. She was either the “villian” or it was just completely unrealistic. I almost attempted to call the producers and beg them to let me be their social work consultant. I pretty much have this feeling anytime there is a social worker on TV, the only show that ever did us any justice was Judging Amy – and I still had some issues with it. This leads me to believe that no one really knows what we do… and that maybe we should write a pilot!
Comment by Socialwrkr24/7 June 18, 2009 @ 5:26 pmOf course, we likely won’t get this show for about 3 years but it doesn’t surprise me. We have home-grown shows that are equally ignorant about social work. They are either portrayed as lilly-livered, birkenstock-wearing, easy to fool hippies (Eastenders) or child-snatchers (Waterloo Road – a drama about a school which showed the social workers just showing up and taking kids away after a mild complaint by a teacher!).
Comment by cb June 18, 2009 @ 11:14 pmMaybe I should write my own drama! It isn’t like there isn’t enough in the office as it is!
So, I’ve taken this show off my DVR record list. I attempted to watch the 2nd episode and it was SOOOOO far from believable that I just couldn’t stomach it. Jada Pinkett-Smith’s mother apparently is or was a nurse..maybe she should have talked to her before deciding the lead character would be the director of nursing. Directors of nursing do not get to go throughtout the hospital solving clinical problems, it’s an administrative job. She should have had the character be a clinical coordinator for an ICU or and Emergency Department…a high powered person who gets to jump in and take care of people. Enough said about HawthoRNe!
Comment by oregonamy1972 July 2, 2009 @ 8:22 pm[…] and the kind of bureaucratic red tape the health care system produces on a daily basis.” Amy’s Life in Brief : “So, don’t ask me why I watch hospital-based TV shows. I know, I work in a hospital…I […]
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