How I Became a Medical Advisor for TV and Movies

Getting Started

Dr. Walter Dishell was the chief resident in Head and Neck Surgery at UCLA. His wife worked with the wife of a TV producer who was working on a pilot called “Medical Center.” Dishell and his wife ran into the producer, Frank Glicksman, in a restaurant, where he told them that he was working on a show about UCLA Medical Center and mentioned his frustration that every attempt to communicate with or obtain information from the medical center resulted in a dead end, and that his calls were never returned. When he learned that Dishell worked in the medical center, he asked him if he would have dinner with him and his partner. Shortly thereafter, Dishell’s new career as a medical advisor was born.

The producers needed medical advice to help them with the pilot. They offered compensation of $75 per hour, which at the time (1969) was a considerable amount for a surgical resident. Dishell provided the medical advice for the pilot. The show was picked up by CBS and ran for seven years.

After completing his residency, Dishell was inducted into the Air Force. He was stationed in Dayton, Ohio, for two years, during which he received a TV script every day by special delivery. He would edit and revise the script and write all of the medical dialogue. Then at 8 PM Eastern Time every evening, he would call MGM studios for their 5 PM story meeting with the writers. Dishell was given dramatic story ideas for the show, and then it was his job to figure out medical situations and diseases to match the plot, using ideas from his own practice or from stories from his medical colleagues and friends. Dishell was involved in every show from the initial outline through the final draft of the script.

When “M*A*S*H” came to CBS in 1971, Dishell was asked to become the medical advisor for that show as well. “M*A*S*H” became one of the longest running and most popular shows in television history. Dishell was one of the few people who worked on the show for all 11 years, from the first episode to the last one. It was, and still is, the most watched show in the history of television.

When “Medical Center” went off the air, the producers were asked to create another show, “Trapper John,” based on the character from “M*A*S*H.” Because of his history with both of these shows, Dishell was asked to be the medical advisor for “Trapper John” and the short-lived show “Aftermash.”

Dishell’s numerous assignments as an advisor to the motion picture and television industries resulted in his becoming the first medical reporter for KNBC in Los Angeles on its first 4 PM news show, from 1983 to 1985. Dishell had his own camera crew, who would go with him and film all of his interviews at doctors’ offices, hospitals, or wherever the story required. Once he had enough tape, Dishell would return to KNBC and sit with his tape editor and prepare his on-air segment for the news. He usually was on the air twice a week unless there was a breaking medical story, such as a celebrity illness. Then he would have to be available for the various newscasts that evening. He felt the visibility he achieved on the news enhanced his reputation and helped to build his practice.

Because he was also a full-time practicing physician, he performed his movie and TV responsibilities in the evenings and on the weekends. Because he was not able to be physically on the set during shooting of the episodes—which often occurred during his time in the operating room or during office hours—Dishell hired a registered nurse to go to the set on his behalf and make sure the medical details were accurate.

Skill Set Required for Being a Medical Advisor

Dishell does not have a background in theater, drama, or creative writing. However, his advice is that you must have a dramatic sense. You must be able to revise the script, and you must understand script structure. You must be willing and able to work with the dramatic story idea that the writer wants to present by figuring out what illness or medical situation will fit the necessary story structure and time line. You also must be able to shift those timelines and events to match the storyline while keeping the content medically correct. It can be difficult to keep the writers in line, because they usually are much more interested in telling their story than in medical accuracy. Dishell admits that he is not a talented creative writer, but he does believe that he has the skills to be a good revisionist or editor of material that is already created.

Dishell provides an example of writing and revisions from his standpoint. The script in this case describes a runaway girl who has been involved in an auto accident. She suffers with blunt abdominal trauma and presents to the emergency department with abdominal pain. When the girl hears through the nurses that her parents are on their way to the hospital, she becomes frightened and leaves the emergency department against medical advice. In order for the script to have credibility, the girl has to have a problem akin to a “ticking time bomb” or something that is going to endanger her life if she leaves the hospital without treatment. Now the medical advisor has to come up with a disease or condition that fits the story and the script. Dishell knows from the writers’ story line that they need to find her, get her back to the hospital, and save her life with an emergency surgery at the end of Act 3. That way they can resolve the family issues in Act 4. Dishell goes to his surgical textbooks and provides the diagnosis of a subcapsular injury to the spleen, also providing information on the current treatment for that injury. Now the team makes a decision on how to manage the storyline while keeping the medical details accurate.

An interesting case that was one of the most meaningful of Dishell’s career as a medical advisor came from his own practice. In 1974, Dishell removed a parotid tumor that involved the seventh, or facial, nerve, from a young woman. As part of the procedure, Dishell performed a nerve graft to repair the severed facial nerve. The patient, a teacher in the Los Angeles School System, was discharged from her teaching position because at that time, no one with a history of cancer discovered or treated within a five-year period could work in or receive insurance from the school system. This provided a great storyline for the TV program, especially because the story was true, and nothing needed to added or subtracted from the script. Of course, because it was a TV program, the surgery could not involve the face, so they replaced the patient with an exercise instructor with breast cancer. A California state legislator saw the episode program and became involved in the real-life story by authoring a bill in the California state legislature that made it illegal to discriminate against any employee with a previous history of cancer. Dishell and the show’s producer both went to the state capitol for the bill signing ceremony with the legislator and then-Governor Jerry Brown. Of course, TV programs and movies usually do not result in changing healthcare laws, but sometimes a program or story connects with a viewer, with amazing results.

Of course, not all plots or dialogue in the episodes Dishell consults on are related to his specialty—so how does he advise a writer or actor on those topics? That usually requires reading, research, and asking for advice from friends in other specialties.

Dishell says said that being a medical advisor for TV and movies is, for the most part, fun and stimulating, and provides a nice diversion from the rigors of a medical practice. He also admitted that it is nice to see his name roll by in the credits at the end of each episode. He also said, “Let’s face it, who doesn’t want to be on TV?”

Of course, there also are downsides to being a medical advisor. Dishell has always made his family a priority, and he found that serving as a medical advisor and reporter occupied all of his discretionary time outside of medicine. Also, because he rarely missed any of his children’s events and attended almost all of their school functions, he had little or no time left for himself.

Although serving as a medical advisor is fun and exciting, it does not provide a significant financial return on the time invested.

As far as financial remuneration, once he was finished residency, the role was not worth the time compared with what he could earn as a surgeon. The fee for most TV shows was $750 to $1000 per script. And for his twice-a-week TV segment, which often required five hours to produce each segment, he routinely received a grand total of $350. Therefore, his message is that although serving as a medical advisor is a fun and an exciting “gig,” it certainly does not provide a significant financial return on the time invested. It’s really something you do more for the creative and intellectual challenge—unless you want to give up your practice and do it full time.

Dishell cautions that large numbers of viewers of these TV programs get their medical advice from the shows, and, therefore, it is very important for the medical information to be accurate. For example, “M*A*S*H” was set in 1949 during the Korean War. When a script called for the use of cortisone, Dishell checked and discovered that cortisone was not available in 1949. That part of the episode, therefore, had to be revised, because it was important to make the medicine accurate for the time frame of the program. This was especially true for “Medical Center” and “Trapper John,” both of which were set in real time. Dishell often received letters or phone calls from viewers asking for information on cutting-edge treatments for diseases that they or someone in their family were suffering from.

It was a constant to make the dramatic points yet keep the content medically accurate. Often it was necessary to write a script that required the TV patient to live with a condition or a disease that was incurable. Dishell needed to be careful to avoid giving false hope to viewers who had a disease or condition that was being showcased, but at the same time he had to be careful not to scare people with the medical material in the script.

Bottom Line: Becoming a medical advisor or consultant can be an arduous process. If you know someone in the business or if you happen to practice in the New York or Los Angeles area, it might be a little easier. According to Dishell, there are always going to be windows of opportunity available to all physicians in all areas of their lives. You just have to pay attention to what’s going on around you and be receptive when one of those windows opens.