Kounodori 2 (2017)

"Reality continues after miracles"

Dr. Storks S2 continued the stories of the doctors in the OB/Gyn and NICU departments at Persona Hospital. Miraculous stories of new life and stories of heartrending losses were shared. This time around there was also focus on the reality that faced many of the new mothers before and after the miracle of birth.

Dr. Konotori Sakura with his cheerful and uplifting personality still seeks to give mothers and their babies the best chance at success. Dr. Shinomiya Haruki is there to balance our Sakura’s optimism with a strong dose of if not pessimism, a harsher view of reality. Imahashi Takayuki remains the rock of labor and delivery as the head of the department and NICU. Komatsu Rumiko, the midwife, helps keep everyone grounded and focused on the mothers’ experiences and needs. The team confronts all sorts of crises for mothers and babies alike. There would also be movement in and out of the department as people seek to broaden their educations or return from other experiences.

For my review of S1 I lamented the lack of women doctors. The OB/Gyn profession is dominated by women in my country and around half of the neonatal docs are female as well. Then I read this, “In 2018, Tokyo Medical University admitted to manipulating women applicants’ entrance exam scores for years to restrict the number of female doctors, in part because they were performing better than male applicants.” * The previous statement helped explain the dearth of women in the profession. It might also explain why the women were either portrayed as overly emotional or with almost no emotion and why one of the doctors was worried if she became pregnant she couldn’t continue to work as a physician. With all the public service announcements they had in the drama, it would have been nice to have shown competent and emotionally stable women physicians. Also, NICU nurses are the unsung heroes in that department and they were an almost invisible presence in the drama with the doctors doing all the work. Rant over.

I did like the holistic approach they had toward prenatal care and labor. The support a couple with a stillborn child had from the staff was particularly moving. The midwife, Komatsu, pushed the need for more maternal services before and after the birth. This season brought up the demand for support for postpartum depression, birth defects, and multiple miscarriages. Another topic of interest presented remote places with limited medical facilities. Women carried a great burden along with their babies if doctors were too far away. Without babies, remote places’ futures came into question.

If S1 was about the miracle of life and birth, S2 dealt with the reality of life of not only birth, but after the baby was taken home. Much emphasis was also put on teamwork both with the doctors and patients. Doctors and new parents need emotional support and also support in order to become better at what they do. While I enjoyed S2, I didn’t find it as compelling as S1.

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

27 June 2024

*https://geographical.co.uk/culture/countries-with-the-most-female-doctors

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