I enjoyed NY Med ABC TV limited series about life in NY Presbyterian-Weil Cornell Med Center last year so tuned into premier tonight. Shows patient dramas involved young man with dissecting aneurysim who's father died at age 21 same illness, young man with multiple GSW--8 exit wounds, male neurosurgical patient with cervical spinal cord tumor and young lwomen brought in by ambulance due to "Sunburn on legs, unable to stand up" due to second degree burns with nerf football size blisters needing debridement in burn unit. Medical personnel stories involved 28yo female urology resident and 6 yr veteran ER RN--who gets FIRED over social media post + escorted out the door.
TV Guide Magazine: In the first episode, a New York Presbyterian nurse is fired because she posted a picture of the ER on Twitter. That seemed surprising because personnel issues can get tricky. Did you need to do a lot of legal vetting to get that on the air?
Wrong: Remember ABC News is doing this series, so we operate under its standards and practices. We do not allow the hospital to see our edited footage before it airs and we don't seek their approval. As a fair play issue, was her firing fair or merited? She posted photos from inside her work place, an environment where patients assume there is medical confidentiality. There are strict codes and regulations. She admitted she was wrong to do it and they fired her for it. That sent a message to staff. If [the hospital] had a vote, would they have wanted that story in the series? I don't know. It's possible they wouldn't have.
it's a good guess that the "NY Med" team was as shocked as Duke when she was called upstairs and informed that, after 6½ years, she had just worked her last shift at New York Presbyterian. Viewers would be shocked, too, if teases for the new season didn't give that development away.
For details about what went wrong for Duke, you'll need to watch the Season 2 premiere of the eight-part series at 9 p.m. Thursday on ABC.
Suffice to say, learning she was being let go "was traumatic. That place was my family," she says.
Don't worry about Duke, though. Not only has she landed another job, she has many more irons in the fire, including a website (officialkatieduke.com), a new YouTube show, an endorsement deal for Dickies and Cherokee scrubs, speaking engagements and a line of "Deal With It" merchandise. She'll even return in later episodes of "NY Med."
