Vent - Eastenders and Kidneys

xxJudexx

Has anyone been watching eastenders recently?

The majority of the time soaps will be really good at portraying these things accurately but the storyline about Sam and living kidney donation is completely wrong!

If people watch this and think it takes one day to find out they are a match they will be in for a shock when they find out it takes between three and six months with a lots of tests and appointments.

I'm going through the process now and its actually quite upsetting they are trivializing the whole process.

Okay, rant over!

Twisted_Cherry

xxJudexx wrote: »

Has anyone been watching eastenders recently?

The majority of the time soaps will be really good at portraying these things accurately but the storyline about Sam and living kidney donation is completely wrong!

If people watch this and think it takes one day to find out they are a match they will be in for a shock when they find out it takes between three and six months with a lots of tests and appointments.

I'm going through the process now and its actually quite upsetting they are trivializing the whole process.

Okay, rant over!

I completely agree with you, it is just not realistic!

My mum was a Kidney Patient, so I have seen the reality of transplants, the waiting etc.

It's like Coronation Street, and Tracy's transplant she had in 1995, hardly ever a mention about it!

Pollycat

I don't watch Eastenders as I find the story lines totally unbelievable and the characters incredibly depressing and 2 dimensional.
That's my rant over. :rotfl:

OP, sorry to hear about your health problems.

I strongly feels that if a fictional program decides to do a specific storyline they have a duty to deal with it appropriately and truthfully.

OK, so the scriptwriters may feel that it's not realistic for the program flow that Sam (whoever he/she is) should wait for 6 months before finding out if they are a match - but if that is the case they should find an alternative illness for their character.

I would write to BBC and complain:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/

Best wishes with your health.

JReacher1

If fairness you can do it a lot quicker than 3-6 months, that's just because the NHS are rubbish. I think in the US they can do it in less than a week.

Pollycat

JReacher1 wrote: »

If fairness you can do it a lot quicker than 3-6 months, that's just because the NHS are rubbish. I think in the US they can do it in less than a week.

But if you have no choice but to rely on the NHS, then the storyline should be true to that.

If the character mentioned paid what would probably be an enormous amount of money for a quick test (assuming that there are companies here in the UK that can produce results within that timescale), then that should have been included in the storyline - even if they had to invent a long-lost deceased great uncle who left them exactly the amount that the test cost in their will so that they could afford the test. :cool:

JReacher1

Pollycat wrote: »

But if you have no choice but to rely on the NHS, then the storyline should be true to that.

If the character mentioned paid what would probably be an enormous amount of money for a quick test (assuming that there are companies here in the UK that can produce results within that timescale), then that should have been included in the storyline - even if they had to invent a long-lost deceased great uncle who left them exactly the amount that the test cost in their will so that they could afford the test. :cool:

Yes but if they describe the process correctly with the proper tests then there is no real issue with speeding the process up for dramatic purposes. PNHS waiting times are variable depending on what part of the country you are in and how serious your condition is.

Plus soaps aren't real life. They are there to entertain people. It's not a duty of eastenders to educate people about kidney transplants. That is for your doctor to do.

It should be applauded that eastenders are highlighting this process not criticising them for not dragging it out over 6 months.

Pollycat

JReacher1 wrote: »

Yes but if they describe the process correctly with the proper tests then there is no real issue with speeding the process up for dramatic purposes. PNHS waiting times are variable depending on what part of the country you are in and how serious your condition is.

Plus soaps aren't real life. They are there to entertain people. It's not a duty of eastenders to educate people about kidney transplants. That is for your doctor to do.

It should be applauded that eastenders are highlighting this process not criticising them for not dragging it out over 6 months.

I totally disagree.

JReacher1

Pollycat wrote: »

I totally disagree.

So you think eastenders is real life

Pollycat

JReacher1 wrote: »

So you think eastenders is real life

Hardly.

Pollycat wrote: »

I don't watch Eastenders as I find the story lines totally unbelievable and the characters incredibly depressing and 2 dimensional.
That's my rant over. :rotfl:

My life isn't inhabited by 2 dimensional human beings who appear to have (from what I read in TV mags and from various discussions on lifestyle programs) dramas and crises every 2 minutes.
I even realise that Coronation Street isn't real life. :rotfl:

I just think programs have a duty of care to be accurate - even if they are fictional - and from what the OP says, I don't think the Eastenders script writers have been and I can understand her rant.

JReacher1

Pollycat wrote: »

Hardly.



My life isn't inhabited by 2 dimensional human beings who appear to have (from what I read in TV mags and from various discussions on lifestyle programs) dramas and crises every 2 minutes.
I even realise that Coronation Street isn't real life. :rotfl:

I just think programs have a duty of care to be accurate - even if they are fictional - and from what the OP says, I don't think the Eastenders script writers have been and I can understand her rant.

TV can't be 100% accurate in an entertainment program. Speeding up real life processes is an accepted dramatic ploy.

The problem is that people don't properly educate themselves on subjects anymore. They take what they see on a fictional tv program and take that as gospel. If you want to learn about a subject then watch a documentary about it or get a book. Don't watch eastenders.

Pollycat

JReacher1 wrote: »

TV can't be 100% accurate in an entertainment program. Speeding up real life processes is an accepted dramatic ploy.

Accepted by whom?

JReacher1 wrote: »

The problem is that people don't properly educate themselves on subjects anymore. They take what they see on a fictional tv program and take that as gospel. If you want to learn about a subject then watch a documentary about it or get a book.

I would if I were in that situation, but some people don't/can't.

The OP is obviously not in that situation as she is very much aware that the storyline in Eastenders isn't accurate time-wise.
That is the basis for her vent.

JReacher1 wrote: »

Don't watch eastenders.

<<Sighs>>
For the 3rd time, I don't.