Intensity and Goodness. Isn’t that the combination that we all crave right now? Things are too bad for too many people for us to benefit from the Entertainment and Stimulation that felt good in the pre-COVID-19 time. (Of course, for many people the 2008 recession was not a low point that was overcome, it was a permanent setback. Neverthless, times were a lot better for many and people’s desires were on the indulgent side.) Now our lives have narrowed: For some, into comfort coupled with tedium and and general anxiety; for others, a hamster wheel of financial stress and or health challenges. The boredom drives a craving for Intensity while the anxiety and broad strife drive a desire for contact with soothing Goodness. “Lenox Hill” has the medicine for what ails us.
I am deeply attracted to hospitals: The combination of science, existential personal struggles against disease, socia-economic context, and extreme personal and organizational management hurdles that characterize medical centers is fascinating. “Lenox Hill” serves up all these elements beautifully. You get drawn into the personal drama of a particular patient or doctor’s situation and then you find yourself engaged in a behind the scenes view of medical research, with all its promise and limitations. Just when you take the hospital’s existence for granted, you witness the lumpy decisions that determine what services do and don’t get funded. Seamlessly you experience how the staff deals with that which is outside their control, the social and political forces that drive patients there.
This 8-part documentary places you in the world of four doctors at Lenox Hill hospital in NYC and their patients. An ER doctor, an Obstetrician-Gynecologist, a neurosurgeon and a Neurosurgeon who is also a department head are the windows into the planet that we visit infrequently and only when obligatory.
The particular Intensity of these doctors’ work differs:
- OB-GYN — new life, ’nuff said
- Neurosurgery in a research hospital — the ability to cure the previously incurable and the prospect of pushing that frontier much farther. But also, discovering places where that road is steeper than anticipated.
- Emergency Room — being on the receiving end of a massive turbulent flow of illness, human mistakes and rips in the social fabric
- All — managing a personal life (including growing families)
The Goodness abounds. I don’t know how other hospitals and doctors manage combining humanity with their professionalism, and I don’t know how well they succeed. With this documentary Lenox Hill hospital has set a high bar for itself and other hospitals. These doctors bring such positive, caring intent to their work and weave it into their actual execution of their jobs very thoughtfully. Even in his administration role, Dr. Langer, the Neurologist/Department head, harnesses a spirit of respect, caring, transparency and collaboration to create a culture that keeps people overachieving despite tough department growing pains.
Each episode is satisfying, but the rewards are great if you view the whole series. And the lessons and insights reveal themselves to you over time long after you finish watching.
- Two doctors become patients over the course of the series and gain new insights into things they already knew well. In how many situations might it be a good idea to seek out first-hand understanding of the people who we are trying to serve, partner with or lead?
- The dreaded part of their jobs are clear. We can all relate. What comes through is how these doctors’ reinforced sense of purpose carries them through those parts. Every job has its downside. Clearly, working at something that has that level of meaning (or finding it in the work you do –see The Art of the Shine) deflates the negative power of those negative elements. In addition, helping others sense the purpose in what they do can make them more resilient and at peace.
- Dr. Macri, the ER doctor provides respect as an important adjunct to the treatment. It seems clear that that is a medical decision as well as a moral one. By definition, then, the treatments alone would not have the same effect. We all encounter — but don’t always acknowledge– many such situations, where we can’t solve someone’s problem without also reinforcing their self-respect.
The last episode covers how the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic in NewYork City affects the hospital and these doctors in particular. In so doing, “Lenox Hill” deposits us near to the present moment, still a bit dazed, but better equipped to seek out good intensity and with new role models for doing intensive good.
Where to watch: Netflix
Better You Value: Extraordinary Ordinary people **** Fascinating Science **** Great stories *** Life lessons ****
