There is no more ER...the
television series that is. ER was originally written as a
screen play by Michael Chichton, author of Jurassic Park,
Coma and many other successful books and screen plays. His
interest was the inter-play of high technology and society.
An insect, encased in amber, yields DNA which can be
replicated into pre-historic beasts who threaten attractive
actresses, for example.
Crichton was a
Harvard-educated physician. He published several novels
during his medical school days under the pen-names of John
Lange and Jeffrey Hudson. Crichton grew to a height of 6'9".
"Lange" meanstall in German and Hudson was a dwarf in the
17th century English Court. He had a sense of humor if not
history!
His wide interests and
experience overlap San Diego medicine. He had a fellowship
at the Salk Institition from 1969 to 1970. His early
novel, Five Patients outlined their treatment at the
Massachusetts General Hospital and featured a surgical
resident, Gene Appel, who practiced surgery in San Diego for
many years.
From his Mass
General experience (as a medical student) he developed the
screen play for ER in 1974, finally realized in 1994 on NBC
as the series ER. In January 2005 Dr. Kenneth Ott from the
NMC was asked to supervise in the Gamma Knife treatment of a
malignant glioma suffered by Dr. Green,, played by the actor
Anthony Edwards.
Although the
TV series ER has reached its final episode, the
participation of the NMC to our emergency rooms and trauma
programs continues. The treatment of emergent head and
spinal injuries is a continuing commitment of the surgeons
of the NMC.
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