Medical issues in TV shows that might’ve been something else…

[Peach Wookiee]

I’ve just been watching “An Easter Story: Part One” of The Waltons, where Mrs. Walton is diagnosed with polio. Given her symptoms and how she regained her mobility, I got to thinking she actually had Guillain-Barre Syndrome, based on what happened to my own mother.

Have you watched a show and wondered if a character was misdiagnosed or told they had a disease when it was something else they might not have been aware of at the time? Tell us the show, character, disease diagnosed and what you think it actually might’ve been.

 

[dupersuper]

I’ve just been watching “An Easter Story: Part One” of The Waltons, where Mrs. Walton is diagnosed with polio. Given her symptoms and how she regained her mobility, I got to thinking she actually had Guillain-Barre Syndrome, based on what happened to my own mother.

Have you watched a show and wondered if a character was misdiagnosed or told they had a disease when it was something else they might not have been aware of at the time? Tell us the show, character, disease diagnosed and what you think it actually might’ve been.

Terms evolve over centuries, I suppose...

 

[Peach Wookiee]

Polio was around in the 1930s, though, but it is now believed that President Franklin Roosevelt may have been hit with what my mom was hit with. It just got me to thinking what, in TV shows, may not have been diagnosed properly.

 

[Non Sync]

St. Elsewhere had a two-part episode (Time Heals Pt 1 & 2, Season 4) that covered the 50 years of the hospital. Denzel Washington's character (Dr. Chandler) had a young patient with a mysterious illness that parallel with a similar case in the early days of the hospital that turned out to be polio.

Those two episodes were ranked by TV Guide as the 23rd of 100 great episodes of all shows.

 

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