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The Heart of Medicine takes a System, not a solo Saviour
This was an unexpected sleeper hit for me and I really enjoyed watching this medical drama. The Heart does not feature doctor as a perfectly heroic McDreamy clad in white-coat armour. Instead, we see a portrayal of different personalities in the specialist field of Cardiology, from Doctors to Nurses and Administrative staff, each with their own unique struggles and hidden backstories, working alongside each other in the setting of a distinguished hospital in the city.
The White-coat Saviour
Within the Heart Centre, the central protagonist is Dr Zhou XiaoFeng (played convincingly by Mark Chao) , an introverted "block-of-ice" who is driven by a sense of perfectionism in everything he does. Under his superior Dr Bai Ji, XiaoFeng works a deputy director at Dongli hospital and is recognised by his colleagues and Head of Department for his reliability, intelligence and sensibility.
Things shake up for him when his bubbly step-sister, Fang XiaoRan (played by Mao Xiaotong), also a Doctor, gets transferred to the same hospital to work in the Intensive Care Unit. Despite their biological ties, XiaoFeng tried his best to avoid XiaoRan as much as he can, while Xiaoran makes no efforts to hide her bursting admiration and affection for her stepbrother in spite of her stepbrother's persistent coldness towards her. Viewers find out later why XiaoFeng seems to treats everyone in the department kindly except for XiaoRan. In her, he sees a shadow of his mother, Dr Fang ZhuQing (played by veteran Joan Chen), a renowned doctor and twice married divorcee, who abandoned him and his father to pursue her specialist training in Pediatric Cardiology when he was a teenager.
To make his life spicier, XiaoFeng also crosses paths with a new hot-headed colleague who gets transferred from another hospital to join the Dongli Hospital Heart Centre. Lin Yi is an impulsive but talented Cardiothoracic Surgeon. Laughably, the real reason behind Lin Yi's transfer is not due to the lack of capable surgeon at the Heart Centre but rather, upon the insistent recommendation of his mentor, Dr Cao, who feels that while Lin Yi's surgical skills are promisingly undeniable, his lack of social graces and emotional intelligence is hindering his career progression. In this new environment, Lin Yi soon finds himself interacting with more non-surgical colleagues outside his usual comfort zone. His arrogance and poor bedside manners soon grate on the nerves of patients and colleagues around him, including XiaoFeng and XiaoRan and this inevitably (repeatedly) lands him into hot soup and sticky situations.
The "Brains" of the Drama
The highlight of the drama lies in the extensive variety of critical cardiac conditions and common heart diseases (From Aortic Dissection, Cardiac Tamponade, Valve prolapse, Infective Endocarditis, Fetal Cardiac Defects etc) presented through the lens of each patient and their backstory. This script-writers do not dumb things down for the viewers by omitting the technical terminology or bypassing the chronological sequence of events surrounding the presentation of each cardiac disorder. Instead, we get to watch the events preceding the presentation of each condition before they land up in the Heart Centre and watch how each patient survives post-intervention during their ICU admission and long term outpatient care. So for pre-medical students who aspire to become healthcare professionals, this drama is invaluable! I would also argue that for lay people who are not interested in becoming Medical doctors, this drama is equally educational and insightful, because each case shines the spotlight on the various problems and challenges in the healthcare system. How a misdiagnosis can arise from an incomplete disclosure of a patient's past medical history, a doctor's negligence can be influenced by their underlying biases and beliefs, or how an ambitious doctor can push for unnecessary intervention for the sake of gaining more academic credit etc. The Heart shows how the public health service system can be abused and exploited by the plebeian, politician and prosecutor where there are loopholes and opportunities to tempt the weak-hearted. A sophisticated set-up is never spared from the honest mistakes made by well-meaning caregivers and medical professionals either. The greatest insight of this drama for its viewers is the realisation that healthcare is really a byproduct of a vast and complex multi-layered system, limited by inherent human weaknesses and subject to the unseen mysteries and uncontrollable forces of nature. Medicine need not always come in the form of an invasive operation, expensive drug or a walking knight with a stethoscope in shining armour.
The "Heart" of the Drama
In case you think The Heart is all cerebral and devoid of any human emotion, it was the humbling maturation of the key characters that formed the real "pulse" for me. Pardon my use of the medical puns.Through the experiences of dealing with his own patients who fight on to live for their lives, XiaoFeng learns to let go of his past grievances and reconciles with his mother and forges a deeper bond with his stepsister. Lin Yi learns to live beyond his father and brother's deaths and not let the fear of inheriting a genetic and debilitating heart condition dictate his obsessive nature to be in control of every aspect of his life, including the care of his patients. The bright-spirited XiaoRan encounters her fair share of tribulation when she gets accidentally exposed to a HIV patient. The internal cardiologists learn to work alongside the cardiothoracic surgeons as allies instead of viewing them as opposing enemies. The story ends beautifully with the characters choosing to fully live in the present while embracing the unknowns in the future. Lin Yi and XiaoRan decide to give their relationship a chance at romance and Xiaofeng turns down a pay-rise at another prestigious hospital to pursue the next phase of his career to in a rural hospital that is short of experienced cardiologists. You could say, the 3 key doctors decided to go with their hearts in the end.
Summary
Being a healthcare professional myself, I like how this drama strived to show a pretty realistic and layered portrayal of Doctors and allied healthcare workers as flawed humans with noble ideals and aspirations. Not a bingeable-till-2am kind of drama but definitely an unforgettable one.
The White-coat Saviour
Within the Heart Centre, the central protagonist is Dr Zhou XiaoFeng (played convincingly by Mark Chao) , an introverted "block-of-ice" who is driven by a sense of perfectionism in everything he does. Under his superior Dr Bai Ji, XiaoFeng works a deputy director at Dongli hospital and is recognised by his colleagues and Head of Department for his reliability, intelligence and sensibility.
Things shake up for him when his bubbly step-sister, Fang XiaoRan (played by Mao Xiaotong), also a Doctor, gets transferred to the same hospital to work in the Intensive Care Unit. Despite their biological ties, XiaoFeng tried his best to avoid XiaoRan as much as he can, while Xiaoran makes no efforts to hide her bursting admiration and affection for her stepbrother in spite of her stepbrother's persistent coldness towards her. Viewers find out later why XiaoFeng seems to treats everyone in the department kindly except for XiaoRan. In her, he sees a shadow of his mother, Dr Fang ZhuQing (played by veteran Joan Chen), a renowned doctor and twice married divorcee, who abandoned him and his father to pursue her specialist training in Pediatric Cardiology when he was a teenager.
To make his life spicier, XiaoFeng also crosses paths with a new hot-headed colleague who gets transferred from another hospital to join the Dongli Hospital Heart Centre. Lin Yi is an impulsive but talented Cardiothoracic Surgeon. Laughably, the real reason behind Lin Yi's transfer is not due to the lack of capable surgeon at the Heart Centre but rather, upon the insistent recommendation of his mentor, Dr Cao, who feels that while Lin Yi's surgical skills are promisingly undeniable, his lack of social graces and emotional intelligence is hindering his career progression. In this new environment, Lin Yi soon finds himself interacting with more non-surgical colleagues outside his usual comfort zone. His arrogance and poor bedside manners soon grate on the nerves of patients and colleagues around him, including XiaoFeng and XiaoRan and this inevitably (repeatedly) lands him into hot soup and sticky situations.
The "Brains" of the Drama
The highlight of the drama lies in the extensive variety of critical cardiac conditions and common heart diseases (From Aortic Dissection, Cardiac Tamponade, Valve prolapse, Infective Endocarditis, Fetal Cardiac Defects etc) presented through the lens of each patient and their backstory. This script-writers do not dumb things down for the viewers by omitting the technical terminology or bypassing the chronological sequence of events surrounding the presentation of each cardiac disorder. Instead, we get to watch the events preceding the presentation of each condition before they land up in the Heart Centre and watch how each patient survives post-intervention during their ICU admission and long term outpatient care. So for pre-medical students who aspire to become healthcare professionals, this drama is invaluable! I would also argue that for lay people who are not interested in becoming Medical doctors, this drama is equally educational and insightful, because each case shines the spotlight on the various problems and challenges in the healthcare system. How a misdiagnosis can arise from an incomplete disclosure of a patient's past medical history, a doctor's negligence can be influenced by their underlying biases and beliefs, or how an ambitious doctor can push for unnecessary intervention for the sake of gaining more academic credit etc. The Heart shows how the public health service system can be abused and exploited by the plebeian, politician and prosecutor where there are loopholes and opportunities to tempt the weak-hearted. A sophisticated set-up is never spared from the honest mistakes made by well-meaning caregivers and medical professionals either. The greatest insight of this drama for its viewers is the realisation that healthcare is really a byproduct of a vast and complex multi-layered system, limited by inherent human weaknesses and subject to the unseen mysteries and uncontrollable forces of nature. Medicine need not always come in the form of an invasive operation, expensive drug or a walking knight with a stethoscope in shining armour.
The "Heart" of the Drama
In case you think The Heart is all cerebral and devoid of any human emotion, it was the humbling maturation of the key characters that formed the real "pulse" for me. Pardon my use of the medical puns.Through the experiences of dealing with his own patients who fight on to live for their lives, XiaoFeng learns to let go of his past grievances and reconciles with his mother and forges a deeper bond with his stepsister. Lin Yi learns to live beyond his father and brother's deaths and not let the fear of inheriting a genetic and debilitating heart condition dictate his obsessive nature to be in control of every aspect of his life, including the care of his patients. The bright-spirited XiaoRan encounters her fair share of tribulation when she gets accidentally exposed to a HIV patient. The internal cardiologists learn to work alongside the cardiothoracic surgeons as allies instead of viewing them as opposing enemies. The story ends beautifully with the characters choosing to fully live in the present while embracing the unknowns in the future. Lin Yi and XiaoRan decide to give their relationship a chance at romance and Xiaofeng turns down a pay-rise at another prestigious hospital to pursue the next phase of his career to in a rural hospital that is short of experienced cardiologists. You could say, the 3 key doctors decided to go with their hearts in the end.
Summary
Being a healthcare professional myself, I like how this drama strived to show a pretty realistic and layered portrayal of Doctors and allied healthcare workers as flawed humans with noble ideals and aspirations. Not a bingeable-till-2am kind of drama but definitely an unforgettable one.
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