There was a time when most Americans considered doctors heroes, as men (mostly) and women who dedicated their lives to improving—and often saving—the lives of others. 

Television played a major role in shaping this image—not through documentaries but medical dramas.

In 1961, two such drama emerged as popular entertainment: Dr. Kildare (1961 – 1966) and Ben Casey (1961 – 1966).

As played by then-unknown actor Richard Chamberlain, young intern Dr. James Kildare tries to learn his profession and deal with patients’ problems.

Early on, his superior, Dr. Leonard Gillespie (Raymond Massey), warns him: “Our work is to keep people alive. We can’t tell them how to live any more than how to die.” Kildare ignores the advice, and this forms the basis for stories, many with soap-opera themes.

Richard Chamberlain and Raymond Massey in “Dr. Kildare.”

In Cult TV: A Viewers Guide to the Shows America Can’t Live Without, John Javna describes his character:

“Dr. James Kildare, the first bona fide TV hero of the 60s, symbolized the best hopes of this new era. Young, intelligent, committed, the evil he fought was disease. His weapons were a good education and a willingness to care about people….

“Americans were turning to science for salvation, and doctors were often the new gods.”

Ben Casey, on the other hand, brought other weapons to the medical drama: As a no-nonsense neurosurgeon (Vince Edwards), he was intense, aggressive, and never failed to display a hairy chest. He refused to go “by-the-book” when he thought he was right, often risking dismissal to save his patients.

The portrayal of doctors as heroes was promoted heavily by the American Medical Association (AMA). The organization created a committee in 1955 to ensure that these shows presented a positive image of physicians and accurate medical information. 

Logo of the American Medical Association

Ben Casey and Dr. Kildare were soon followed by other popular medical dramas, including:  

• Marcus Welby, M.D. (1969-1976)
• M*A*S*H* (1972-1983)
• St. Elsewhere (1982-1988)
• ER (1994-2009)
• Grey’s Anatomy (2005-Present)
• House (2004-2012).

Medical dramas evolved over time, moving from shows that presented idealized images of doctors to shows that delve into the complex realities of modern medicine. Current trends include:

• Utilizing medical consultants and doctors to ensure realistic portrayals of procedures and medical terminology;
• Addressing current social and ethical issues within healthcare, such as pandemics, mental health, and patient advocacy;
• Exploring the emotional depth and personal struggles of healthcare professionals. 

But for millions of Right-wing Americans, the medical profession generally—and doctors in particular—have become hated and feared targets. 

Republicans’ animosity toward the healthcare system can be traced to 1964, with the passage of Medicare. This has proven the most durable achievement of Lyndon B. Johnson’s one-term Presidency.

And even while it was under debate, Republicans—such as Ronald Reagan at the start of his political career—furiously attacked it as the initial step toward socialism.

But it was President Barack Obama’s signature plan to give every American access to healthcare, the Affordable Care Act (ACA)—universally known as “Obamacare”—that pushed the Republican party into overdrive. 

The reform effort became a lightning rod for Right-wing groups like the Koch-brothers-financed Tea Party. In 2010, a massive Rightist turnout cost the Democrats the House of Representatives, and threatened Democratic control of the Senate.  

Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527), the Florentine statesman and father of modern politics, could have warned him of the consequences of this—through the pages of The Prince, his infamous treatise on the realities of politics:

…There is nothing more difficult to carry out, nor more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to handle than to initiate a new order of things.  

For the reformer has enemies in all those who profit by the old order, and only lukewarm defenders in all those who would profit by the new order, this lukewarmness arising partly from fear of their adversaries, who have the laws in their favor, and partly from the incredulity of mankind, who do not truly believe in anything new until they have had actual experience of it.  

Niccolo Machiavelli

This proved exactly the case with the proposed Affordable Care Act.

Its supporters have always shown far less fervor than its opponents—with House Republicans voting more than 70 times to repeal, delay or revise the law.

Critics like Alaska Governor Sarah Palin lied outright that the Act would implement “death panels.” In an August 7, 2009, social media post, she wrote:

“The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s ‘death panel’ so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their ‘level of productivity in society.”

Right-wingers pundits and their followers quickly agreed. On his syndicated national radio program, Rush Limbaugh said of Palin, “She’s dead right.” 

Despite Republicans’ lies and threats, the Affordable Care Act was signed into law on March 23, 2010.

The rift between the Republican party and the medical establishment grew wider between 2020 and the present. This has been fueled by Republicans’ relentless opposition to abortion, birth control  and transgender healthcare.

And, increasingly, Republicans—and their voters—attacked the very foundations of science itself.