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"Doctors' Hope To Help What Ails You

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By WALT BELCHER

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 11, 2008

"The Doctors" are in. A new syndicated series, "The Doctors," debuted this week on WFLA, Channel 8, to impressive ratings on its first day.

Produced by Dr. Phil McGraw's team (his son Jay is in charge), the talk/medical advise program airs at 3 p.m. weekdays.

The hosts are Travis Stork, an emergency room physician; Lisa Masterson, an obstetrician; Jim Sears, a pediatrician; and Andrew Ordon, a plastic surgeon.

The four doctors engage in "The View" style banter about various medical procedures and latest developments in health care; interview guests with medical problems; go on field trips to hospitals; and take questions from viewers.

"I hope this show will raise the bar in terms of patient expectation and help to inform real-life doctor-patient interactions," Executive producer Jay McGraw says.

The hosts/doctors are attractive and articulate. Stork, who became famous on "The Bachelor," is the biggest celebrity. He's also an emergency room physician.

The foursome took questions from TV critics during the recent Television Critics Association's fall preview tour in Beverly Hills in July. Here are some highlights:

QUESTION: What questions are patients most embarrassed to ask their doctors?

DR. LISA MASTERSON: Well, as an OB-GYN, I know that a lot of women are very embarrassed about asking questions. The problem with that is that then we can't give them the kind of medical care that they really need, and that's the idea to try to help them understand, that no question is embarrassing.

DR. JIM SEARS: There millions of embarrassing questions that they (children) will not ask me in the office with their parents there. We get to bring it to them on TV.

DR. TRAVIS STORK: You would be shocked also, as an ER doctor; men are embarrassed to sometimes tell they're experiencing chest pain, because men feel like we're supposed to be so strong that we can never admit that we're not feeling quite right. We want to make people feel like it's OK to go to their doctor and trust their doctor no matter what may be going on.

DR. ANDREW ORDON: For my perspective, everybody has something that they don't like about themselves, something they're a little ashamed about and they would like to change. Is there something I can do about it? Those are the questions I'm going to answer.

QUESTION: Are you going to be addressing the fact that this show is coming along at a time when people can't afford medical care? It's a rising crisis, and obviously in this country.

ORDON: That's exactly it. What we hope to accomplish is to give them a consultation in their own living room, to bring all this medical information directly to them.

MASTERSON: Also, in the changing medical care field, doctors don't have enough time to spend with their patients, so we want to change the nature of the patient/doctor relationship on television.

QUESTION: If patients who are embarrassed to talk to their own doctors or don't want their parents in the room, why are they not embarrassed on national television?

SEARS: The way that works is, there's always somebody that wants to come on TV, but who we really help is the millions of kids watching, millions of parents watching, that are too embarrassed. They'll at least understand how important that problem may or may not be and hopefully they'll pursue their — go into their own doctor to ask the question.

ORDON: That's going to be a part of the show — a segment will be dedicated to answering questions that we receive through the Internet, through the website and from the audience.

MASTERSON: And it also helps a lot of people know that they're not alone with their embarrassing questions, and I think that's very important.

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