Death, Dying, Violence and Aggression as Shown on Medical Television Series.

NCT07416669 | Not Yet Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: KCC02022026EOL
• Study Type: observational
• Target: 500
• Locations: 2 countries
• Sites: 2

Brief Summary

Medical TV dramas have become very popular in recent years. These shows are mainly created for entertainment and often do not reflect what really happens in hospitals. However, television plays an important role in sharing information, shaping how people think, and teaching the public about medicine. Death and dying in hospitals, especially in Intensive Care Units (ICUs), are highly emotional experiences. In real life, these situations often turn out very differently from what patients and families expect. Because of this, it is important to understand how medical TV shows portray major hospital events such as end-of-life care, death, and the delivery of bad news. When what is shown on TV does not match the reality of ICU care, it can lead to unrealistic expectations, false hope, and greater distress for patients and their families at the end of life. At the same time, violence and aggression towards healthcare providers have increased in recent years. This can include verbal abuse as well as physical attacks. Looking at how healthcare workers are treated in medical TV shows may help us understand whether these programmes influence what behaviour is seen as acceptable. Since violence against healthcare staff has become especially concerning since the COVID-19 pandemic, the possible role of media should not be ignored, even though many factors are involved. This study aims to describe how death and dying are shown in popular medical TV series and to explore how violence or aggression towards healthcare providers is portrayed in these settings.

Conditions

End of Life Care; Violent Aggressive Behavior; Television Viewing; Media Use

Keywords

violence; aggression; death; dying; medical tv shows

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• Number and type of violent episodes depicted in medical tv series in the OR, the ICU and in the ER.

  Violence/ aggression behaviours including: intentional physical, verbal, psychological/ emotional and/ or sexual

  during hospital admission

• Number and type of death/ dying as depicted in medical tv series in the OR, the ICU and in the ER.

  End of life scenes depicting the death and dying process

  during hospital admission

Secondary Outcomes (2)

• Type of environment that the behaviour is taking place

  During the hospital admission of observed patient or family member/ friend

• Depicted emotions during death/dying

  During the hospital admission of observed patient or family member/ friend

Study Arms (2)

Violence and aggression

People included are clearly visible and/or audible, intentional acts of violence occurring as self-contained scenes within an episode, set in a hospital environment, and taking place between two or more individuals in a medical or professional treatment setting.

End of life

All patients dying within the hospital setting. The death scene must be explicitly shown or named (e.g., flatline, burial, covering of the body). The death must be visibly depicted on screen (the viewer must see the death happen).

Eligibility Criteria

• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)
• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Fictional characters in the studied TV series

You may qualify if:

• Any are clearly visible and/or audible, intentional acts of violence occurring as self-contained scenes within an episode, set in a hospital environment, and taking place between two or more individuals in a medical or professional treatment setting.
• All patients dying within the hospital setting. The death scene must be explicitly shown or named (e.g., flatline, burial, covering of the body). The death must be visibly depicted on screen (the viewer must see the death happen).

You may not qualify if:

• Violence: Violence outside the hospital. Self-harming behaviour or acts of violence that originate from a purely private context and do not arise within a professional medical setting.
• Death: Death outside the hospital. Stories or mentions of death without visual depiction do not count. Implied or off-screen deaths without explicit confirmation or depiction are excluded. Implied or off-screen deaths without explicit confirmation or depiction are excluded.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• King's College Hospital NHS Trust: lead
• University of Witten/Herdecke: collaborator

Study Sites (2)

Medical tv series

Witten, Germany

Location

Medical tv series

London, Select, SE1 3BG, United Kingdom

Location

Related Publications (3)

• Kumar KA, Ceasar J, Olympia RP. Mortality as depicted in medical TV shows compared with reality. Am J Emerg Med. 2024 Jan;75:192-195. doi: 10.1016/j.ajem.2023.02.011. Epub 2023 Feb 12. No abstract available.

  PMID: 36806425 RESULT

• Chartrand L. Dying on television versus dying in intensive care units following withdrawal of life support: how normative frames may traumatise the bereaved. Sociol Health Illn. 2020 Jun;42(5):1155-1170. doi: 10.1111/1467-9566.13089. Epub 2020 Apr 18.

  PMID: 32304256 RESULT

• Colwill M, Somerville C, Lindberg E, Williams C, Bryan J, Welman T. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation on television: are we miseducating the public? Postgrad Med J. 2018 Feb;94(1108):71-75. doi: 10.1136/postgradmedj-2017-135122. Epub 2017 Oct 9.

  PMID: 28993522 RESULT

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Aggression; Death

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Aberrant Motor Behavior in Dementia; Behavioral Symptoms; Behavior; Social Behavior; Pathologic Processes; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms

Central Study Contacts

Victoria Metaxa, Consultant

CONTACT

+447503117348; victoria.metaxa@nhs.net

Study Design

• Study Type: observational
• Observational Model: CASE ONLY
• Time Perspective: RETROSPECTIVE
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: February 2, 2026
• First Posted: February 18, 2026
• Study Start: May 10, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): May 1, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): December 1, 2027
• Last Updated: February 18, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-02

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share
• Shared Documents: STUDY PROTOCOL, SAP
• Time Frame: Beginning with publication of results and ending 6 months after publication
• Access Criteria: All researchers that request information on the study protocol and the data collection sheet. An explanation need for the requested will be needed. The request will be assessed by two researchers participating in the original analysis/ publication.

Locations

DE (1); GB (1)