What organs do medical dramas use in surgery scenes?

As you watch characters undergo surgery on your favorite TV medical dramas, you may be wondering which shows are used to create fake organs – and the answer is as disgusting as you feared.

“Usually it’s something synthetic that the art department made. Early on we used parts of perhaps a chicken pig for the replica [a human] Organ,” Grey’s Anatomy star James Pickens. Jr.who, since the series premiered in 2005, has played Gray Sloan Memorial Hospital’s chief of surgery, Dr. Richard Webber, plays, exclusively shares the latest edition of Us weekly.

Pickens added that, as expected, there is plenty of fake blood on hand at all times to make surgical moments seem more authentic. “Gallon!” he tells us with a laugh. “We have enough fake blood to survive until the cows come home!”

But what about the actors’ safety during these intense moments in the operating room? Pickens says most of the surgical instruments are real, but precautions are definitely taken. “Most of them – the pickups, the tweezers, the Bovie – are real,” he explained. But with the scalpels, they will of course use a blunt blade for safety reasons.”

Related: Grey’s Anatomy’s biggest exits over the years

Not every ending to Grey’s Anatomy is the same. Katherine Heigl, Patrick Dempsey, Justin Chambers and other stars have left Gray Sloan Memorial Hospital – for different reasons. “Grey’s Anatomy,” created by Shonda Rhimes and starring Ellen Pompeo, debuted in 2005 on ABC. Pompeo (Meredith Gray) left the series as a series regular after season 19 […]

Typically medical damas – Grey’s Anatomy, Chicago Med, New Amsterdam or The residentto name a few, focus on telling the most unexpected and, yes, sometimes offbeat stories possible to keep the drama alive. However, that doesn’t mean they neglect their research.

As Dr. Arizona Robbins (Jessica Capshaw) returned to Grey’s Anatomy for season 20 last year, the show’s medical advisor, Michael MetznerShe wanted her to come back with a groundbreaking procedure that could show how magical surgery could be.

In the episode “Baby, Can I Hold You”, Arizona, with the help of Dr. Jo Wilson (Camilla Luddington) and Dr. Amelia Shepherd (Caterina Scorsone). According to Boston Children’s Hospital, the vein of Galen is a blood vessel that can malfunction and cause heart and lung problems. If a baby is not operated on in a timely manner, the consequences can be fatal.

The story was inspired by a real doctor Darren Orbachwho helped develop the technique of operating on a fetus in the uterus. Metzner said the series hired Orbach “as a consultant and interviewed him many times” to ensure every detail was as accurate as possible.

“This is a very controversial matter. It’s still in the experimental stage, so there are a lot of fetal surgeons who are against this kind of thing because of the history. But now there are these cases in small numbers that have been successful,” Metzner told Shondaland.com in April, adding, “We also have a researcher who has no medical training but is always in the news for new and cool things searches that exist.” what happens in medicine. So it’s a team effort.”

Metzner remembered seeing Dr. Orbach for the episode and asked him to “know in detail every single needle and device you used.” Metzner said production then “actually reached out to these companies” and purchased the “specific things” the doctor would use.

“I then worked with our video playback staff to tailor the visuals of the operation to fit the scenes of the story we are trying to tell,” he continued. “I worked with the actors and the director to have them recreate what was happening in the surgical shots with their hands and with the actual equipment to marry the two.”

Metzner is the only doctor who is in the writers’ room every day and works with the actors and directors. He is also involved in post-production, meaning he can see the story through from start to finish. Metzner added that Grey’s occasionally – particularly for procedures that are still in the experimental stage – often uses real images of patients in scenes to maintain authenticity.

“If an operation has only been done a few times, that’s the only thing we can use,” he said. “We have done it in the past. Some of the pictures from our partial heart transplant last season are from [a real] OR.”

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