US TV show offers miracle surgery

By Peter Bowes
BBC News, Los Angeles

Big claims are made for the doctors

A new reality series on American TV is offering the services of "miracle doctors" to people with crippling medical conditions.

Miracle Workers, which has debuted on the ABC network, features two patients every week with "seemingly overwhelming medical problems".

The programme has received a lukewarm reception from critics and less than impressive viewing figures.

The first edition focuses on a man, blind from the age 12, and a 47-year old woman with degenerative bone and joint disease.

In both cases, the show's surgeons are successful in carrying out what ABC describes as "incredible medical transformations".

Reality specialists

Miracle Workers was created and developed by Renegade 83 Entertainment, a production company that specializes in reality television.

It has the potential, at least, to contribute to a broader debate by showing what types of medical interventions are possible toda Neil Genzlinger

Medicine has come so far in the past five years and our idea was to highlight some of the breakthrough procedures," said David Garfinkle, one of the show's executive producers, in an interview with the BBC News website.

Todd Heritage, a father of three, lost his sight as a child as a result of an allergic reaction to penicillin.

Miracle Workers follows his progress through two operations, including a procedure to transplant cells from the edges of Mr Heritage's sister's cornea into his left eye.

Vanessa Slaughter appears on the show in a wheel chair and seems to have lost all hope of ever being free from the back pain she has endured for years.

She undergoes a procedure known as Anterior Spinal Fusion.

It involves the implanting of a titanium cage between her vertebrae.

The cage is filled with bone chips that encourage the spine to fuse together.

Emotional focus

The programme attempts to explain the techniques through 3-D graphics although much more time is spent dwelling on the emotional rollercoaster experienced by the patients and their families.

Miracle Workers, unlike conventional medical documentaries, has flashy packaging more akin to a soap opera.

It has an opening credits sequence highlighting the starring roles of the doctors and nurses that would not be out of place on a medical drama.

The show is heavy on glitzy production techniques, such as suspenseful music and close-ups of tearful relatives awaiting the outcome of the surgeries.

It also omits key information that would normally be expected from a journalism-based programme.

For example, how much is the surgery costing and who is footing the bill?

"Every now and then we helped out but it was taken on a case by case basis," said Mr Garfinkle.

"Most of the time it was the insurance company."

Tears and drama

"Miracle Workers has its share of the tears and phoney drama we've come to expect in television-as-saviour programmes, but at its best it's more documentary than reality show," writes Neil Genzlinger in the New York Times.

these doctors are phenomenal in what they do David Garfinkle

"It has the potential, at least, to contribute to a broader debate by showing what types of medical interventions are possible today."

ABC Television, however, does not present Miracle Workers as a documentary.

According to the network's website, the show follows the network's "tradition of developing reality programming that makes impossible dreams come true."

No label

But in a world where reality television could mean anything from Big Brother to Pop Idol, does a real life medical series fit the mould?

"Reality television is just a name that someone made up - I don't know what the genre is," said Mr Garfinkle.

"I just think our goal was to go and identify and help people and I think that's what we've done and I'm proud of that. I'm not sure how to label it."

ABC says it looked for people to take part who "do not have access to the necessary medical community or in some cases the resources to these procedures".

"The access is the important part of it," said Mr Garfinkle. "I think it's the way with most Americans and people around the world, you really don't know.

"Medicine is so specialized and even your family practitioner doesn't know all the things that's going on in medicine."

Front line

Two doctors, Redmond Burke and William Cohn, who seek out surgeons with the expertise to carry out the "life-changing" operations, present the show.

"We're on the front lines of medicine every days," said Dr Burke, Chief of Paediatric Cardiovascular Surgery at The Congenital Heart Institute at Miami Children's Hospital.

"We feel very comfortable in that area where life and death decisions are being made - and that's what these families need.

"We found that the people really wanted to tell their stories, they wanted to help others with the same affliction."

Another reviewer likens Miracle Workers to an infomercial. It suggests "doctors are actually deities in disguise," writes Randee Dawn in the trade newspaper, The Hollywood Reporter.

"They perform miracles! They have wings!"

However, Mr Garfinkle refuses to accept that there may be an element of hype.

"If this was your family and lets say it was you and you're blind since you're 12 years old and you're now 34 - 22 years later someone comes and tells you we may be able to restore your vision and you get sight, I think for you, that would be a miracle.

"I depends on every person, these doctors are phenomenal in what they do and I think it's a personal thing."