Trauma: Life in the E.R.

I was filmed my name was Regina Lynch and now is Gallegos. I don't have a copy and haven't been able to get a copy for my years.

While I haven't watched this show in probably 10 years, it stills stick with me as one of the most powerful documentary series I've ever watched.

The show takes you on a tour through a Hospital's emergency department where you meet doctors, victims, relatives and friends, and witness trauma surgery, life and death. It's all presented in a very authentic and direct way.

You will see victims from the second they're rolled in to the hospital and laid on the surgery table. You will be absorbed and excited while begging for a positive outcome, because some will die. In some cases you will also see relatives get the news that their family member passed away. It is truly powerful, insightful and at times heartbreaking.

Beware that the series shows quite disturbing graphic images (uncensored), and some episodes has images of very extensive injuries and people on strong drugs. Though uncensored, faces and all sexual organs on screen will always be censored.

These shows were amazing and put together in a great way. It is incredibly skillful the way such a chaotic environment can be filmed and put together the way they did. The show hits trauma centers all over the country, making it even more interesting. The locations give a good idea of what the region problems are. It is not surprising to have gang violence and shootings in certain areas such as LA. Some locations see different challenges with more homeless, more uneducated, and those who can not speak English. All create more difficult conditions to treat. The show is reality in the true sense of the word. TLC stopped filming because it was too expensive. Instead, they moved on to ridiculous freak shows that encourage bad behavior for the show. Points for the most kids, extreme cougars, people going to ridiculous measures dating, trying to get green cards. TLC went to trash tv.

I do not condemn this program. In fact I do watch it from time to time. Everything you see is real, no acting no BS about it. What I find disturbing about it is the producers claim that they only show patients who give their consent. I don't buy it one bit. The reason is simple. The first time I watched it, a man was brought in unconscious after being hit by a car, the man unfortunately died on the table without regaining consciousness. Now how could they possibly get that man's consent to show him on camera, to show his face, to use his name, I don't think so. And to top it off, the man's wife was in the waiting room not knowing what has happened, when the sawbones walks in to tell the bad news the cameras were rolling capturing all the shock and grieving. I have seen many more examples like it. Now if that is not exploitation, someone will have to explain to me what is. For this reason I only give 5/10.

'Trauma: Life in the E.R.' works really well as a introduction to how the medical system works, but isn't good for much more than that. It's biggest fault is that it went the opposite way of 'ER', and concentrates more on the lives of the patients instead of the doctors and medical staff, which pretty well knocks out any entertainment value that could be derived from the series. The biggest surprise to me is how well the series has done, as the relatively poor production values and unfocused direction are just too much of a distraction. A real misfire compared to 'ER'.

4/10