The Pitt might be the most accurate medical drama, but there's one thing the show continues to fake

Noah Wyle's The Pitt has received much acclaim for it's realistic depiction of healthcare workers and how it shows everything that goes on in the medical space. Backed by doctors, nurses and other people who work in healthcare, the show ensures it stays rooted in reality. Except for this one thing.

Although much of the procedures shown in The Pitt are medically accurate, there's one that the people behind the show have yet to shoot a real take on. And that's CPR, or cardiopulmonary resuscitation, a procedure where a chest is compressed to save someone's life when their heart stops.

Speaking to USA Today, executive producer R. Scott Gemmill said,

"The one thing that we have to fake because it doesn't come off as realistic is CPR. We've tried a million ways to do it. You just can't. If you're doing CPR properly, you're breaking ribs. And we can't do that to our actors."

But it's not like they didn't try. Gemmill talked about how he tried for quite a while to arrange a prosthetic device that would help actors act it out, although the results were unsatisfactory. The producer then added,

"We've got some hacks for CPR. It's all in the shoulders."

The procedure apparently involves bending elbows so the person giving CPR doesn't push into the patient's ribs. However, the team isn't disheartened and hopes for a possible realistic device they will discover soon.

"It will probably be made out of fiberglass or some sort of composite material. We need something with just a little give that could fit over a chest without being noticeable."

The realism on The Pitt

According to real doctors, The Pitt is almost uncomfortably accurate, but in a good way. The show is set inside the Pittsburgh trauma center, following Dr Robby, played by Wyle as he goes through a 15-hour shift while the episodes explores every detail of it. The show strips away glossy romance and leans hard into chaos, fatigue, and the quiet dread of a waiting room that never empties.

What sets The Pitt apart from older medical dramas is that it refuses to dramatize unnecessarily. There are no long romantic arcs hijacking patient care. There is a lot of computer work. There are endless ethical gray zones. Mandated reporting, end-of-life decisions, domestic violence, and mental health crises are handled with nuance rather than shock value. Even small details ring true, like doctors not eating, holding in bathroom breaks, or carrying backup scrubs because bodily fluids are inevitable.

In recent years, it's one of the most realistic procedurals that have come out, and surely, the audience will let them get away with the small blip of fake CPRs.

The Pitt is streaming on HBO Max.

Comment

Edited by Nibir Konwar