House M.D. And Nurse Jackie. Sex, Drugs and Videotape. Is it Really that Far Fetched?

Doctors and nurses on drugs? Sacriledge!! How dare they create characters like this for prime time television. After all, there's no way this could happen-nurses and doctors are held to a higher standard, and it's degrading. "They" are painting a picture of our medical professionals that simply isn't true!

There is such controversy in the medical community about our favorite TV characters. You may think it's all fiction, but love them or hate them, but the stories hit very close to home for those in the medical profession. Show me one doctor or nurse that hasn't met a colleage that has a substance abuse problem, I'll show you some medical professionals with their heads in the sand. To beleive that it doesn't happen, is ludicrous.

Nurse Jackie plays a sometimes compassionate, sometimes abrasive nurse that feels the need to make things right, taking justice into her own hands at times to ensure that it's served. She says things to patients and families that many nurses wish they could, without repercussion and discipline. She has a child with signs of mental illness, and a boyfriend at work-despite the hard working husband she shows love and devotion to, who is left to fend for himself and the children when she is at work She couldn't be just like one of us, could she?

Dr. House also plays an addicted character, above the repercussions of his peers and hospital administration. Cocky and arrogant, as some physicians are, but so intelligent that he willfully wreaks havoc on every episode by using unconventional and sometimes risky measures to diagnose and treat his patients. Sure, there is little basis for the medicine practiced on the show, but it's good entertainment. But what about the drugs?

It shouldn't come as a surprise that Nurse Jackie and Gregory House suffer from more than one condition. They suffer from something that we all suffer from, and it's chronic-the human condition. We can't ignore the fact that stress is a factor in addiction, whether it be one of us regular Joes, or a superhuman medical professional. To believe for one second that nurses and doctors can't suffer from addiction, and don't suffer is illogical. We entrust our health and lives to these people, yet any number of them could be addicted to numerous substances. It can go on for a while, not noticed by families or co-workers, and sometimes the practitioner has the ability to take the matter into their own hands. Some need to get help with the issue, and yet there are some whose dirty little secret will go unchecked. We have other dirty little secrets too-we have sex, we like sex, and when there isn't anyone looking-we engage in sex. Sometimes, we engage in sex with people we shouldn't, for reasons we shouldn't. Nurse Jackie likes drugs, and it's convenient to make the pharmacist believe she loves him to get what she wants.

So do these things happen in real life? Does the adultery and steamy hotbed of sex between nurses, doctors, and other healthcare professionals really happen in hospitals? More often than you think. It's easy to find a seldom used room or storage area in a hospital, and beds aren't hard to come by. Sometimes it's just a stress release, sometimes something more. Can a nurse work while high without being noticed? Sure they can-I have met many nurses that were under the influence both on and off the job. Medical professionals are well trained to know the signs of addiction and signs of being high, and very knowledgeable about how to cover those signs up, with or without the use of other medications. Yes, there are secrets in the medical profession and in hospitals everywhere.

It's a dirty little secret that's been kept for ages, but that's okay Jackie. Your secret will be safe with me!