Reality Bites - Tlc's `Trauma' And `Paramedics'

Fiction must be believable, but real life has no such constraint. The unbelievable happens every day, especially in the pressure-cooker world of emergency medicine. And the cameras of TLC's "Trauma: Life in the ER" and "Paramedics" are there to capture it.

Produced for The Learning Channel by NYT Television, both series are witness to the ordered chaos of emergency care, as recorded without lights or boom mikes by video journalists wielding tiny digital cameras.

Airing Tuesday nights at 8 p.m., "Trauma" is in its second season, having expanded from a half-hour to an hour. Camera crews spend a month at hospitals in different cities, then episodes are created that focus on a theme, such as "Judgment Calls" (tough medical decisions) or "One for the Road" (drinking and driving). This year, the hospitals have been in Newark (N.J.), New Orleans, Las Vegas, Cleveland, Orlando (Fla.), Nashville and Sacramento.

The series is currently in production on season two. So far, the cities are Los Angeles, Detroit, Albuquerque, Memphis (Tenn.) and, in a real hardship trip, Honolulu.

"The crew (members) were just devastated that they had to go there," says executive producer Glenda Hersh. "Trauma in paradise."

While NBC's "ER" - set in a fictional emergency room in a county hospital in Chicago - is TV's top-rated drama, Hersh feels that the real top-quality medical drama is to be found on her show. "I think we're so much better. After you've watched `Trauma,' you cannot go back to `ER.' Obviously, I think that, but I think `Trauma' is so much more compelling. First, `ER' is ridiculous. You have medical students reattaching limbs in the trauma bay. It's stupid. It's never going to happen medically.

"And the stories interfere with the great human stories that are buried inside it. With `Trauma,' you're getting the same kind of drama, in terms of life-or-death situations, medical problems, people facing things that happen to them really once in their lives, but it's real, and it's accurate, and it's the actual story. Much more compelling."

Cases on "Trauma" vary from mundane bumps and bruises to terrible gunshot wounds and serious auto-crash injuries. And although the patients often have gotten themselves into these situations, they agree to let their stories be shown on television.

"We ask them," says Hersh. "What can I say? People want to be on television. The other thing is, a lot of people have seen the show, and they understand what it is. They know it's really important for people to see the real stories, the real consequences of not wearing a seat belt, of not wearing a helmet when you ride a bicycle, the real consequences of drinking a six-pack and getting into a car.

"Although (the patients) themselves may have not been the most responsible, they owe it to other people to share their newfound wisdom."

Although the "Trauma" staff tries to maintain the same emotional detachment as the doctors and nurses, sometimes a case hits home. For Hersh, one such case happened in Newark, when a divorced father and his son were in a car accident. Both sustained injuries and, for a while, both were expected to recover.

"Then something happened," says Hersh. "Unfortunately the boy died. It was one of the saddest things I've ever seen in my whole life, because this young boy was really this man's life, his whole life.

"The whole staff was devastated - the residents, the nurses, the attending physician. It was just really paralyzing for the hospital. Every once in a while a case would come in that really touches everybody, and this was one of those. It was very sad."

In March, NYT Television and TLC launched a spin-off of "Trauma" called "Paramedics," which follows the crews on medical emergencies in five cities. Three one-hour episodes premiered in March; two more air April 21, starting at 9 p.m.

If the dangers of injury or infection with everything from HIV to TB exist for the video crews in "Trauma," the crew on "Paramedics" also faces peril on the streets. "So far, nobody has had a problem," says Hersh. "It's certainly a risk. On the `Paramedics' show, it's an even greater risk because you're walking into people's homes and bars, where the actual event has taken place, and the risks are even higher in terms of violence.

"One of our VJs (video journalists) once got slapped by a gang guy, but he's fine. He's a big guy."

While both shows have renewed Hersh's faith in trauma care, they have also given her and her crew a firsthand look at the consequences of abuse, crime and violence. "On the one hand, it's upsetting to see the violence. On the other hand, it's good to know that if something does happen, there are people who can fix it, a lot of the time."