"Number one cause of death in hospital - INFECTION"

I grew up watching some of the best comedies around, but Scrubs was (and still is) one of my favourites. For those of you haven't watched it, it puts humour and silliness into something we would not normally laugh about, illness and death. But they blend the two perfectly and throughout the 9 series it will leave you reaching for the tissues or a big glass of wine.

But one episode has hit the news over the past few weeks and rightly so, in fact this episode is one of my personal favourites. It starts with the Chief of Medicine, Dr Bob Kelso, who is notoriously known as the bossy, unreasonable and arsehole of the hospital - the ultimate bad boy boss. Ridiculously as it seems, a bird flies in and eats the muffin in his hand (as I say it blends the bizarre with the real), Kelso rages and asks why there is a bird in his hospital. The Janitor, whose name remains a mystery until the final episode, names the bird and tells Dr Kelso how the patients seem to "love the little guy". Dr Kelso then goes into a tirade stating:

"Number one cause of death in hospital - INFECTION"

He goes on to show the Janitor how disease and infections spread, a green blob representing the spread is highlighted - a boy sneezes into a tissue his mother is holding, the mother then shakes the hand of a doctor, the doctor then bumps into a nurse accidentally, she helps him pick up his files, this nurse then touches a patient on the shoulder and Kelso ends with "-then you have a patient in trouble".

Fast forward about 25 minutes to the final scene. A trainee doctor, going by the name Cabbage, makes endless mistakes and errors leading to several near misses throughout his shifts and they decide to let him go before he ends up making anyone else sick or worse. Just before the credits role and as he is leaving Sacred Heart, the name of the hospital, he picks up a disposed glove laying on a floor, also with the infectious green blob, and pops it into a bin. He then notices the hospitals favourite patient, Patricia Wilk, getting ready to leave the hospital after being given the all clear. Without a hesitation he goes in and thanks for her being kind to him during his time at the hospital and he shakes her hands. She then puts her hands on her chest and finally on her face. All the while the green blob moves from his hands, to hers, then to her chest and finally her face. Sadly, the next episode ends with her untimely death due to this fleeting handshake.

To see the two clips merged and how the infection spreads click on the link below:

This is the clip

The next episode is all about grief and how we deal with it differently, but that is entitled to have it's own article altogether. What this is article is about is highlighting the danger of Covid-19. It highlights the threat of the spread of a disease. A disease which is murdering thousands of innocent people. Some may say that last sentence is extreme, but in my mind it is simple, Coronavirus is a killing machine and it doesn't care who it destroys. The NHS are begging us to Stay Home and we MUST listen.

The comedy timing of Scrubs was second to none, but the reality of what happens in hospitals became so clear and real throughout each episode. Who would have thought that 14 years after that episode aired how relevant it would be in today's world.