This familiarity with the subject matter requires a degree of realism in order "to avoid misinterpretations or false ideas about the medical institutional or professional practice".
[1][4] Medical fiction also allows "the illustration and discussion of ethical dilemmas that are frequently not raised for reasons of discretion, embarrassment, or fear of retribution" in the scientific community.
[14] A 2009 book, Doctors in Fiction: Lessons from Literature, discusses medical practitioners ranging from the late 12th century to the early 21st, including small analyzes of their particular time periods.
[18] In addition, attention has been directed towards the use of fiction as a useful tool for bioethicists to understand atypical and criminal behavior, such as the numerous murders by serial killer Harold Shipman.
[24] Notable examples are the mysterious Dharma Initiative from the TV series Lost, which follows a nefarious plan to influence humanity and employs characters of the mad scientist type,[25] and Project Cadmus from DC Comics, a shady agency conducting genetic experiments disregarding any ethical boundaries.
The series explores her dark past and less-than-scrupulous behavior as a nurse, often employing murder and deceit to manipulate those around her in order to achieve her aims.
[33] Another notable example is the Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane in Batman comics: Hearkening back to the works of H. P. Lovecraft, it incorporates the "willful misremembering of historical madhouse regimes" into a contemporary setting, outwardly symbolized by a gothic-style building.
[36] An example of medical science fiction can be found in the science-fiction television episode "Ethics" in Star Trek: The Next Generation, in which one of the characters has his spinal cord replaced on a space station with a new one.
[39] Anthony Hecht's poem, The Transparent Man, focuses on the patient experience of undergoing chemotherapy and the rationalization of death that may accompany the contraction of cancer.
Admission, Children's Unit is a poem written by Theodore Deppe that chronicles the treating of a child with cigarette burns on his body, inflicted by his mother's boyfriend.
The poem deals with themes of religion and domestic abuse, and the nurse's reconciliation of the experience with his own recollection of St. Lawrence which he heard in high school.