The CEO and representatives of the U.K. Society and College of Radiographers (ScOR) met with managers from the BBC last week to discuss how radiography is portrayed in its television programs.
The meeting followed a complaint made by ScOR about an episode of the TV drama "Holby City," which was shown on BBC1 on 26 June 2012.
In the episode, a patient with intracranial shrapnel was referred for an MRI exam, which could have had potentially fatal consequences. An unnecessary "demonstration" scan was performed on a physician without written referral, to allay the patient's fears. When the MRI exam revealed the physician had a brain tumor, the radiographer contacted the doctor's line manager to inform them.
In an additional blunder, the "MRI images" shown on the program were actually CT images.
ScOR's CEO, Richard Evans, wrote to executives at the BBC to point out all the inaccuracies and expressed the organization's concern about the way the television program had misrepresented radiographers and the profession. SCoR's MR Advisory Group, whose members brought the issue to ScOR's attention, helped prepare the letter.
Evans and radiographer Erica Scurr, service lead at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London and a member of the MR advisory group, were invited to meet executives of the BBC at its production offices in Elstree.
At the meeting, ScOR offered to provide advice to scriptwriters and directors for any future story lines that included diagnostic imaging.
