Doc Martin medical question

[CanadianJohn]

Please note, we are in Canada, and live in a city.

Are the medical procedures shown in Doc Martin even remotely true to life? I don't mind the instant diagnosis of weird diseases based on a visual examination, and yes, well, it's only TV, right?

But I got two questions:
(1) The Doc does his own medical tests. Whenever I go to the doctor, and he orders a test, I then have to go to a lab to be tested, the test results are sent to the doc, and I go back to the doc to be given the results. Isn't it like that in rural England?

(2) In a recent episode: unable to get an ambulance, the doc did emergency surgery at his office, assisted by his untrained receptionist, who was scared she would faint at the sight of blood. Here, it would have to be a life-or-death situation for a doc to lay a scalpel on a patient in his office... and even then, I suspect he wouldn't. If the ambulance takes a long time, that's not the doc's problem.

Please tell the producers are taking some license with reality.

[DuchessofMalfi]

Suspect he'd be struck off for some of the things he does if it were in real life :o Loads of dramatic licence.

[Lottiedoubtie]

In the UK in a rural practice it's likely the doctor would take blood samples and send them for testing like he does.

As for performing operations in the surgery pretty unlikely, but I guess they might in a life or death situation.

Most of it is pretty dramatised though yes!

[sonlypuppyfat]

What do we do when we watch the TV? We suspend disbelief!!

[SauvignonBlanche]

It's absolute nonsense but it's a drama, not a documentary.

[Pooka]

I would imagine that in a rural area (that part of Cornwall some way from nearest hospital) if it were a life or death situation and ambulance likely to take time to arrive, then the GP would do whatever necessary to save life. He's a qualified surgeon Pre-GP practice after all. I prefer the idea of this to the alternative of a doctor failing to intervene in an emergency if he/she can potentially save a life.

At my local GP if you need blood taken you get sent to phlebotomy dept. but when I was more rural the GP did the lot.

But is not real.

[Davros]

I live in fairly urban London and the practice nurses at my GP's will routinely do blood tests OR you can choose to get the forms and go to the Blood Room at the local hospital

[LadyGardenersQuestionTime]

Mostly fantasy. Not least the setup where the whole village is served by a single doctor in a surgery in his own home. Even really rural England isn't that rural.

I think there'd be trouble though if a doctor faced with a real life and death situation that he could possibly deal with didn't deal with it and just said 'tough' and let the patient die. But it's a pretty unlikely event.

[RegTheMonkey]

I live in a rural village in Scotland and we only have one doctor for around 800 people. The practice nurse takes the blood for the tests and they do minor procedures like freezing moles.