The Good Doctor and bioethical principles: A content analysis

Abstract Introduction Since their inception, TV medical dramas have been popular with the general public, and especially with medical students. Some educators in biomedical disciplines have used these dramas to illustrate professionalism and bioethical dilemmas. The first season of The Good Doctor, an American TV series, consisted of 18 episodes that showed the life of a young autistic physician with savant syndrome who is starting his residency in surgery. His personality gives rise to conflicts with colleagues and patients. It is hypothesised that The Good Doctor might be useful for teaching bioethics to health sciences students. Methods We used content analysis for an exploratory and descriptive study of the first season to determine whether the episodes had enough scenes involving bioethical dilemmas to justify empirical studies of its teaching value. Two research questions were posed: What depictions of bioethical conflicts can be useful? And, what characteristics of the representation of the physician as an autistic with savant syndrome might be interesting for learning bioethics? Results It was found that many episodes of this TV medical drama deal with bioethical dilemmas in different scenarios. A total of 186 situations were identified in which a bioethical principle was involved. The ethical principle most often represented was charity, followed by non-maleficence (non-harming), autonomy and justice. Conclusion The results suggest that The Good Doctor might be useful for teaching bioethics to health sciences students.