Chicago Fire (TV Series) All the Dark (2024) User Reviews

At least a new theme

[judyolsz · 7/10 · 28 March 2024]

As usual the acting was outstanding as usual. Love the cast.

The only issue with the story line is in Illinois, there is a strict law against self referral (Stark law). A provider ( doctor) can't refer patients to a facility that the doctor owns. The provider doesn't make money unless dialysis claims are filed to Medicare. Misdiagnosed patients often die.

The Federal government goes after Providers filing fraudulent claims. Not only does money need to be repaid, but the facility can be shut down . The doctor would likely lose his medical license. The FBI would also want to be involved.

At least physically shutting down the facility immediately for code violations is great tv. Granted, insurance fraud is not as exciting as fire fighters rushing in to save the day.

More lazy writing.

[rosa_alba-74130 · 6/10 · 9 April 2024]

Seriously - doesn't the writers/showrunners have any technical advisors ?

As another reviewer pointed out, the Hipaa violation is mind boggling, secondly - repair a fistula ? Really ? Even i, who have no more than a average layman's medical knowledge, knows that you do not repair or re attach a fistula, that is complete nonsense. You repair the vein.

Work for a surgical specialist, i.e. Vascular surgeon.

Then along comes a new antagonist, in the shape of the ambitious chief medic Robinson, and her stooge Lennox.

It gives a sad picture of American work life.

But the worst, which once again makes me praise God for being born in Europe, the terrible conditions in healthcare.

We Europeans of course knows that this is fiction, but it very much gives the impression of a fairly accurate picture of mess that is American healthcare, or lack thereof. With all this stuff about insurance scams, doctors filing false claims, big insurance companies out to for profit etc. Etc.

Why can't Americans see that the European way is so much better ?

It is cheaper to run, because medical staff, doctors, nurses etc. Are all civil servants, hospitals are public facilities and the treatments available are easily as good as or often better than in the US, and it is equally available to everyone.

The is no running a hospital for profit, and funnily enough, it works out much more economical. And no insurance companies as middlemen, who wants "their cut".

It is sound economy, far less bureaucracy and so much more egalitarian.

For a European the American healthcare is a cause for pity and commiserating.

A devolving mess & reconnected fistulae

[sysgoddess · 4/10 · 28 March 2024]

The past couple years have seen episodes becoming less believable with firefighters solving crimes, going undercover, etc. As well as the stories themselves becoming more far fetched though usually balanced out somewhat. This one opened with the obligatory sex scene between colleagues involved in a pseudo secretive relationship, internal political intrigue, insurance, medical & Medicare fraud, obvious toxic gas pouring from beneath a door directly across from a seated person in plain sight of anyone in the office.

Then, the team sees a former colleague / friend in the dialysis center & goes to his home later to check on him only to find him unconscious on the floor of his home with blood pouring from what is explained by a doctor at the hospital was a ruptured fistula in his vein that ruptured. Far more information that is necessary for a casual friend or former colleague though relevant for first responders.

Just felt like a mishmash or redirection throughout the episode - look, Boden & station 51 are being mistreated, wait, look over here at this casual friend collapsed on the floor or the drama of all those poor patients poisoned by toxic fumes at the dialysis center, or the emotional breakdown of a firefighter character I don't even recognize or know, or Carver & whats-her-name's illicit affair, ad nauseum.

Adding insult to injury, Dr. Marcel (Chicago Med crossover) tells the patient, after he calls Stella (an unrelated 'friend' / former colleague who hadn't seen or spoken to the patient in a while to come down & hear his pronouncement (ever heard of HIPAA?), that they did tests before they "replacing the fistula in Charlie's arm..." Huh? A fistula is an abnormal connection between two organs, etc. And are often (clearly) medical emergencies. The writers clearly have no clue what they're writing & are confusing the patient's dialysis port with the condition that resulted in the large vein in his forearm rupturing.