Dana's line "If anyone uses force to stop an assault, they're a hero. But a nurse does it, and we're punished?" is exactly the point that the Pitt tries to make over and over again. The double standards set on healthcare professionals, in every dimension.
A mental health crisis is accepted unless you have responsibility to care for others; in that case you’re expected to behave flawlessly. Even if pushing it down makes you a suicide risk. You get to be an addict unless you have the responsibility to care for others. In that case, you deserve jail time and every consequence to rid you of your title, even if that makes you risk a relapse. You get to protect yourself from assault, but unless you work in healthcare. In that case, you could lose your license and were irresponsible for putting yourself in that situation, no matter how traumatic it was. You get to have trauma, but if you have to take care of others it needs to be compact and palatable, even if compartmentalising it makes you have a panic attack. You get to react in a normal and human way to someone abusing their power and privilege, but not if you work to save lives together. No, then you have to get the fuck over youself even if it causes you to self harm.
We're never allowed to react in the way people outside of healthcare do, simply because we are expected to be perfect rational creatures. If healthcare professionals have an unending amount of empathy for others, why can’t you accept that we need it too? We need it from our colleagues, something even these characters struggle with; but we also need it from the viewers. The result of us having lives on our hands and being under severe pressure of should make us get more support, not less. We are several times more susceptible to addiction, trauma, assault, and mental health crises. If our work causes all that, why do you expect us to be better and more rational than you? Can you live with us reacting disproportionally, unfairly and stupidly? Can you understand that we are reacting the only way we can, which will always be flawed in an environment like that?
gummygunk
kianamaiart
