LadyDoc to the rescue

we are busy watching K dramas, including an older one: Jewel in the palace, about a cooking lady in the court of the king of Korea who later becomes a nurse/physician and eventually the court physician to the king: Dae Jang geum, or in English, the Jewel in the palace

A lot of infighting drama among the female staff in the palace kitchen, a later plan to study medicine after she is removed from that position, a bit of a romance, and lots of melodrama along the way. Over 40 episodes, which we are watching on K Drama streaming sites but you can also see parts of it on youtube or from Amazon.

toward the end, our intrepid heroine treats civilians in a local epidemic, with the help of a guard who is a special friend who went to see why she hadn't returned from the village in quarantine.




and you thought that the wuhanflu was bad.

much of the plot is that she is confronted with a problem, so she asks around and hits the books for information and then solves the problem. The main character is sweet and polite but manages to get things done despite opposition based on envy, other's ambition, and of course, sexism against female doctors.

hmm... sounds familiar.

and yes, there is romance, but it is essentially G rated.

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in contrast, the latest KDrama, loosely based on a BBC miniseries, is about a modern lady physician whose philandering husband steals her money for his unsuccessful business and then marries his pregnant girlfriend who just happens to have a rich father to support him.
it is streaming under several names: The world of the married is one.

not a lot of medicine in this one, but the way she fights back against her ex husband will cheer the hearts of every lady who has ever been betrayed by a narcissistic lover/boyfriend/husband... you can just hear her anger/plans for revenge when she walks down the street in her high heels.



so not much medicine in this one. and unlike many k dramas, it has r rated scenes in it, but the steamiest scenes are not graphic: She just exudes passion, and most of the men recognize this.

and of course, wimpy women don't make it through the tough course of medical school.

But the husband is a toxic narcissist: to me, it's not just about his having a bimbo, but that he did a lot of other things like emptying her bank accounts, mortgaging her house, and hiring a hit man to beat her up and almost kill her, not to mention his manipulation of his son to punish his wife by persuading the kid to move in with him.

so alas the ending where she again succumbs to his manipulations (gaslighting her by acting poor me and making her responsible for all of his evil actions) is disgusting.

sigh. Earlier in the film, a girl who she helped escape from an abusive boyfriend warned her that she, the doctor, was like herself and vulnerable to the sweet talking guy who could manipulate her by making her she had to protect him. Truer words were never said.

maybe she needs to watch Dr Ramidi.



oh well. but then as a doc, I am well aware of how abused wives/girlfriends etc. return over and over again to these types.... but in a physician who should know better?


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the third lady doc is closer to home: Claire Frazier of Outlander. Able to hold her own in medicine and in Jamies' arms (many r rated scenes here)

Lots of medicine here, both surgery and herbal remedies.

here is Claire confronting a typhoid epidemic on a British ship after she was essentially taken there by force to treat the sailors,



so here you have three modern portraits of women in medicine.

how accurate ate the portraits?

well, they are a lot better than the two dimensional politically correct female "superheroes" that Hollywood is pumping out.