Posted by SH
Male breast cancer, lost testicles, sensitive man-hugs and, of course, banana hammocks are all in the mix as the Sacred Heart gang struggles with issues of masculinity. Well, the dudes do. Carla and Elliot simply wonder how men can be so shallow (seemingly forgetting all their own stupid fights).
After a dressing-down from Cox over his penchant for snapping his fingers during West Side Story (it’s happened before), and a beat-down from Turk in an old-fashioned bout of Remote Wrestling, J.D. worries he’s not the best male role model for baby Sam. On the bright side, the kid gets the most screen time in his young life, assuring for one more week he won’t fall victim to neglectful sitcom parenting.
J.D. notices Turk seems to be unleashing his inner alpha lately but doesn’t bother to ask why. Undeterred, he challenges Turk to a rematch and accidentally comes out on top after an inadvertent elbow to the face knocks C. Bear out cold. J.D. shows off for the audience, but knows Turk will want some payback. Before the throwdown, though, J.D. finds out Turk recently had a testicle removed thanks to an errant kick from his daughter. They eventually decide to stage a Rocky III-style freeze-frame photo of them about to punch each other, and each can make themselves the victor in front of captive audiences.
Elliot and Carla treat a macho dude who finds out he has breast cancer but doesn’t want to tell his brohams. This really is a means to an end, for it allows Elliot to realize that when she earlier eavesdropped on Kelso talking about his upcoming mandatory retirement, he was really reaching out for her help. I don’t think the cancer dude ever got mentioned again. Elliot recruits Carla and the whole hospital (save Cox) to plead Kelso’s case to the board.
It’s good to see that after seven seasons, we can still learn something about the characters and not just rely on the same-old near-kisses and Cox-gets-serious moments to pull us through. Especially nice this episode was the joining together of Janitor, Murphy, the Todd and Ted (as the invisible investigative reporter!) to produce a thrice-daily newsletter called The Janitorial. It led to some funny gags and offered a creative solution to how to get more screen time to the “Scrubs” day players.
The headline here and general content of this CBS story in my opinion is taken out of context and rather overstated in comparison to the original article. While it is true that BSGI and PEM have a higher radiation dose than screening mammography and increased attributable risk, the same can be said of a CT of the chest over a 2 view chest x-ray (actually a fairly similar comparison in terms of effective dose and increased risk and ordered thousands of times a day in the U.S.). The subject of attributable risk of cancer from medical imaging procedures is rather complex and not as easily translated as the CBS story presents. I certainly agree with the importance of educating the general public on the risks associated with medical imaging but the patient should discuss the benefits vs risks of each imaging exam with his/her physician and decide accordingly. As with any medical imaging exam that uses ionizing radiation, there are benefits versus risks and when used appropriately, these studies can provide very valuable and important diagnostic information. It would be a shame for a patient to forgo a medically necessary BSGI or PEM because of a fear of the radiation dose and then discover too late a cancer that may have otherwise been detected early on. I think the real take home message of the article should be two fold. First, that physicians be aware of the radiation dose delivered with each exam he/she may order and order appropriately and accordingly. Secondly, that patients be aware of the radiation dose they receive and make decisions in concert with their physician.