Forbes January 19, 2026
Emergency medicine is one of the most dramatized fields in healthcare. Show like ER, Chicago Hope and Grey’s Anatomy are filled with nonstop heroics, rapid diagnoses and miraculous saves. While entertaining, these older shows misrepresent many issues facing real ERs. Some medical cases are so medically implausible, doctors’ eyes roll. HBO Max’s The Pitt is different.
The show is set in a real, gritty, urban ER in Pittsburgh and addresses many of the real problems of today’s hospitals. And (most of) the ER cases resemble real-life. Yet The Pitt is still a TV show. Here are four areas the Emmy Award-winning show gets right, and four where it drifts from reality.
Here’s What The Pitt Gets Right:
1. The Operational...
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