DARK SHADOWS FORUMS
General Discussions => Current Talk Archive => Current Talk '24 I => Current Talk '05 II => Topic started by: arashi on July 14, 2005, 04:57:26 AM
-
Watching boxset 3 as I do a bit of housecleaning.
Willie's in a coma and he's been in an oxygen tent all night (he snapped out of the coma quick n'est-ce pas?) Anyway, he's just had surgery, had a 1 in 100 chance of survival, and Julia lights up a cigarette in his room.
I swear I burst out laughing.
Don't you think that Julia, being a medical doctor (or actually a psychiatrist? I'm never quite clear on where her degree of medecine lies, other than prescriptions) would know not to light up and smoke in a room where less than an hour before the occupant was in an oxygen tent?!
So what does Julia's medical degree cover? Do you normally get a degree in physical medecine when you get a degree in psychological medecine?
-
well what happens in reality and on this show . . .it was made pretty clear Julia has an MD. .. now if there is a Ph.D. or whatelse along with that. . its vague. .i've seen her referred to be "others" as a hemotologist and serotologist or something like that. .though Maggie went to Wyndcliffe for mental disturbences (and young Amy) ..you have to suspect Maggie physically was not well too . ..it's never clear if Wyndcliffe is merely a psychiatric hospital or a private hospital with a reknowned psychiatric wing. . ?? But ole Jules dispenses drugs only like an MD could. ..
also. . i am curious about the smoking too .. you could smoke in hospitals at this time . . but i dont think around oxygen tents.. ?
-
Normally, you don't smoke around oxygen tents because you might cause an explosion. One has to have an M.D. to dispense medication. The psychologist is a PhD and a psychiatrist is an MD. Then, there are psychopharmacologists. Those are my favorite kind of doctors. ;D Perhaps, Julia was one of those with a sub-specialty in Hematology.
It looks to me like Wyndcliffe is a psychiatric hospital since it has bars on the windows and patients are locked in their rooms.
-
That scene drives me nuts. Back then, it wasn't unusual to see smoking while oxygen was in use, but not around an oxygen tent. That's a tremendous amount of trapped gas. They used to hang "no smoking" signs whenever a tent was in use, and a doctor would have known better.
-
While there was smoking in hospitals back then, one did not, I repeat did not, light up anything in the presence of an oxygen tent. Or if they did, they probably didn't come out of it unscathed.
-
I think Julia was the all-purpose doctor sort of like Stokes was the all-purpose college professor. Apparently, her MD made her a specialist in whatever was convenient for the plot at the time just as Stokes' position at the university made him a specialist in anything involving the occult or any fancy book learnin'.
I don't remember the oxygen tent scene, but I do get a charge out of seeing Julia take someone's blood pressure in lightning fast time, often with the cuff and no stethoscope. I suppose that tends to pass without notice now that we have these fancy electric gizmos you can buy at any drug store that only require the cuff.
-
Oh, I love that episode! Every time I walk into a hospital, I always joke with my mom about lighting up a cigarette just like our favourite doctor! I always thought Julia was either a blood specialist (like it implied in the movie--but then again, the movie isn't the show) or a psychiatrist. At any rate, she sure knew how to hand out those sedatives! Professor Stokes...he mentions his interest in the occult time and time again, so perhaps he has a degree in religion and/or philosophy? Maybe history? Who knows?
-
She'd have to have a MD to prescribe anything. It would be super super rare to have a doctor who works as a shrink (running a mental hospital no less) and also specializes in something like hematology.
My favorite Julia medical inepititude is watching her declare someone dead only to have them pop up very much alive.
-
I like MsCriseyde idea that Julia is a specialist in anything the writers need at the time. My favorite Julia gaff is every time she gives Barnabas(or anyone for that matter) an injection she winces. The actor getting the shot should wince not Julia. ::)
-
Bizarrely, I can't quote chapter and verse, but on the 1968 Ron Barry radio interview he asks everyone to say something about the character he/she plays on the show (Jonathan says something like "I sucked blood for a living until recently when Dr. Hoffman cured me--thank you, dear," and he's obviously turning to smile at Grayson--even though of course it was Dr Lang who cured him).
Anyhow, Grayson starts off and says something like "I play a Doctor. She's a Doctor who does everything from hand you an aspirin to... brain surgery! and psychoanalysis too! Yeah, your average all around ... Doctor," punctuated by a volley of giggles. I just love hearing her acknowledge the absurdity of what they had her doing. And there's another notorious interview in which she complains: "Julia's *such* a straight-ass." Hilarious!
Somebody years ago wrote this hysterically funny thing about Dr. Hoffman being jailed for medical malpractice and incompetence. I think it was part of a Collins Chriistmas letter, or something. It was so perfect.
G.
-
In the 70s I knew a doc who felt unfulfilled as an OB/GYN so he returned to school and became a board certified psychologist. Fans often joke about Julia's specialization in both hematology and psychiatry, but I don't find it so odd. It's her surgical skills that seem to require a total suspension of disbelief.
I have a vague memory of once seeing Julia injecting Barnabas' arm with the needle pointing toward his hand, but I can't swear to it.
-
One of my favorites is when she's got a bottle of medicine or something and she goes to put it in her medical bag, and it won't fit. So Grayson blithely stuffs it in there, bottle about three inches too high for the bag, and she strides on out of the scene.
I also remember years ago writing a story where I had someone find out that she'd failed medical ethics in med school. Someone took me to task on that. Like anyone seriously taught medical ethics; what could I possibly be thinking?. I backed down. And then what do I find where I work now? Of course, they teach medicall ethics!
-
Maybe Julia sent in enough box tops and got her very own diploma.
Hehe, but all joking aside the character either must have had at least some schooling or she's a very good con artist.
Con Artist. Wouldn't that be a clever plot twist?
[If anyone want's to use that idea go right ahead. It might make an interesting fan fic. ]
-
My favorite Julia medical inepititude is watching her declare someone dead only to have them pop up very much alive.
Oh, mine too!! Julia misdiagnosed more dead bodies than the last act of Hamlet. ;)
-
Maybe Julia sent in enough box tops and got her very own diploma.
Hehe, but all joking aside the character either must have had at least some schooling or she's a very good con artist.
Con Artist. Wouldn't that be a clever plot twist?
[If anyone want's to use that idea go right ahead. It might make an interesting fan fic. ]
Now there is an interesting idea, and one that's not entirely unpluasible. Anyone hear of Harold Shipman? (http://www.bbc.co.uk/crime/caseclosed/shipman.shtml)
-
I just love hearing her acknowledge the absurdity of what they had her doing. And there's another notorious interview in which she complains: "Julia's *such* a straight-ass." Hilarious!
But we still love that straight ass all the same, huh? Especially when she has friends to loosen her Orbachs' belt a bit...
(!) [_!_] (supposed to be a tight-ass and hard-ass smiley, respectively...cough) >:D
Somebody years ago wrote this hysterically funny thing about Dr. Hoffman being jailed for medical malpractice and incompetence. I think it was part of a Collins Chriistmas letter, or something. It was so perfect.
Dang...I'd love to read that...sigh.
Anyway....I find this thread extremely amusing (taking a difficult ethics class right now ;)) I always thought (well, for fanfic purposes anyway...cough) that Julia was a doctor that had specialized in hematology and psychiatry...eventually she acquired Wyndcliffe, oversees everything, did her rounds, and dabbled in experiments with life and death during her off hours (LOL). And then she came to Collinwood, etc...Oh, I dunno. :P
Any-Hoo, what's a thread about Julia's peculiar habit without a pic, huh? ;)
This is from later on (episode #677) but I thought it was interesting because its a close up of her ciggie (I love this scene because the camera pans over Chris' cottage, gradually revealing Julia's things thrown here and there...makes one wonder what was going on as she waited for Chris and Barnabas to arrive {cough, cough}).
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v706/dsbabe/677-3.jpg)
-
Heather, you rock my world! that's one of my all-time favorite mini-sequences in all of DS, just because of the way it establishes Julia's presence, and then the look on her face when we finally see her. just a bit of brilliance from Grayson and her favorite bric-a-brac.
G.
-
Do we know for certain that MDs back in the (we'll say) 50's declared a 'specialty'?
Patti...who can remember walking up & down the aisles of the grocery store and hospitals smoking.
-
Yes, there were specialists even back in the 50's and 60's. But there were far, far fewer of them than there are today. Which is one of the reasons the cost of health care in America is killing us all. But that's another discussion for another forum.
I cannot, however, imagine anyone having a cross-speciality of psychiatry and hemotology. ::)
Who would they treat, besides people who got hysterical at the sight of blood?
-
Thanks for the much-needed laughs, guys.
I met a female psychiatrist once (an M.D., as others have pointed out) who also had a Ph.D. in another subject area, something like Sociology and Statistics, though I'm not certain. Maybe the Ph.D., if it was in one or both of these areas, related to epidemeology (?). She was also a Jungian therapist, which requires a completely separate line of training. And her business card described her as a diplomat of some kind, although I think that relates somehow to being board-certified in psychiatry. She was in her early 30s at that time.
-
That scene drives me nuts. Back then, it wasn't unusual to see smoking while oxygen was in use, but not around an oxygen tent. That's a tremendous amount of trapped gas. They used to hang "no smoking" signs whenever a tent was in use, and a doctor would have known better.
::)most of the doctors i.ve know Midnite aren't that bright LOL
back 20 or 30 years ago in my old icu the nurses and mds would be puffing
away feet away from oxygen and ventilators ICK always
made me not want to smoke :o
jennifer
my old GP when i was a kid did it all and made house calls for a few dollars!
but of course we only had 3 channels back then ^-^
-
I cannot, however, imagine anyone having a cross-speciality of psychiatry and hemotology. ::)
Who would they treat, besides people who got hysterical at the sight of blood?
[lghy]
-
Reading this topic has me reliving hospitals of the 70's and shaking my head at the memories.
In truth, even today doctors have total disregard for rules and regs. Common sense is often not common among the MD and PhD crowd. (No offense to any of my learned colleagues...) But, the mindset is much as it was back then. The rules do not apply to me. In the sixties and seventies, toking on a cig in ICU was common practice even with O2 in use. Today, Docs ignore isolation practices and TB negative pressure rooms and just stroll right on in as if they're immune to anything.
The talk about the cross of Hematology and Psychology is not really that improbably in my mind. The specialty of Hematology today often encompasses Oncology where Psychiatric practice is highly valuable. Dealing with the chronically ill and dying requires special skills. Yeah, I know, this is 2005 and that was the 70's. But, DS was also a television show where Julia was a doctor, period. Didn't matter what she really was trained to do. All skills were fair game. Docs have to learn it all before they can specialize, so the adage of 'if you've done it once you can do it again' seems to have been put to the test.
All this talk about the old hospital days is making me wonder just how we survived!!
;) Dawn
-
I know that if you want to be a psychiatrist you have to get your MD first. If Julia got her MD then her extra schooling for psychiatry she may have then become interested in hemotology. As to Wyndcliff, perhaps it had a psychiatric wing.
Misa
-
As to Wyndcliff, perhaps it had a psychiatric wing.
As opposed to a pschiatric wing, I always thought that Windcliff was a psychiatric hospital. I wasn't sure if it had some regular medical sections or not, but that it was at least predominantly psychiatric.
-
I'm thinking that Julia was tops in her graduating class. Dr. Woodard was probably 2nd in the class. Why wouldn't a brilliant psychiatrist (especially a woman who had to prove everyday her worth to the world back in those days) want to get into a research sideline! Dr. Woodard showed her a lot of respect and acknowledged that her methods were unusual but was willing to cut her some slack on Maggie's care.
-
You would think that as a doctor, Julia would know better that to smoke around an oxygen tent. As a doctor, she should know better than to smoke at all because it's bad for your health.
-
Lots of doctors smoked in the 60's. People used to believe that smoking was good for you. I'm not sure when they found out how bad it is, but the tobacco industry found out first and then tried to keep it a secret. Dr. Hoffman was in her 30's of 40's, she probably started smoking as a teenager; she would have been 16 around 1943. So here she is addicted to smoking and a busy doctor. I can't see her trying to kick a habit that wasn't even frowned upon then.
Misa