Biomedical imaging and rhetoric of diagnosis in medical dramas and docuseries

Since the Second World War, medical practice has undergone a profound transformation concerning the introduction of numerous and increasingly sophisticated medical imaging technologies, which have profoundly changed the diagnostic procedure and the doctor-patient relationship. In mirroring this process, biomedical images and technologies are frequently captured, represented, and revived in medical dramas and docuseries, significantly impacting popular culture and the collective imaginaries. Indeed, medical series shape the social perception of doctors and health care institutions, as well as the rhetoric codes and discursive construction for the body’s observation, diagnostic documentation, and care. On this level, it becomes particularly interesting to observe how the narrative models of medical drama have influenced the representation and narration of illness and healing in some recent docuseries. Accordingly, this essay aims to analyse two different television products, medical dramas and docuseries, which have both worked on the representation of illness and hospitals.