The Pitt Episode 8 Review – Most Unrealistic Episode Yet

I love “The Pitt.” Any show that is unlike anything else out there and tells stories in such a good way gets me. It is probably the only appointment TV show that I have, at least from the standpoint that I watch it on the day it comes out.

I have a handful of friends who are ER doctors or nurses and they tell me that the show is incredibly realistic. That makes the graphic scenes of the various procedures and injuries even way more interesting to watch. It is also why it is so disappointing that episode 8 of season two was the most unrealistic one to date.

The Pitt Spoiler Alerts Ahead!!!

I am a lawyer, not a doctor, so I can not comment on any of the medical stuff. I have never heard anyone say that any of it is unrealistic. It really makes the show so cool.

One of the story lines this week is that Mel, a 2nd year resident, is being sued for medical malpractice and has a deposition in that case that is happening that day. She is freaking out in prior episodes and worried about how this is going to affect her career. The other doctors are very reassuring that everyone gets sued at one point or another. I have been wondering what happened that ended up with her being sued.

Side note. Mel is played by actress Taylor Dearden who happens to be the daughter of my favorite actor, Bryan Cranston. And that’s because of Malcolm In The Middle more than anything. How fricking proud must he be of her performance and that she’s not trying to cash in on the family name.

We learn during this episode that the alleged medical malpractice lawsuit is from something that happened in season one of The Pitt. In that timeline, there was a crazy, anti-vax mom story line. That mom’s son did not get the MMR vaccine and ended up with measles. As can happen, sadly, to the children with parents who do not protect them, the measles caused a severe injury.

In this case, that meant the boy got pneumonia and they suspected a brain injury. The child needed a spinal tap and the mom did not want him to have that due to the risk of paralysis with that. The father eventually overrules the mom and he is able to get a life saving spinal tap. That is all we really knew when season one ended.

Flash forward to season two and we have now discovered that the boy has brain damage and intellectual decline. The mom blames that on the spinal tap procedure and is suing a bunch of doctors over this. And that is where the story goes off the rails.

How Is The Pitt Lawsuit Unrealistic? Let’s Count The Ways

There is quite literally no way in the world of law that this deposition would ever take place. Let me tell you why.

1. The deposition is happening on July 4th! Scheduling depositions is hard. You need the availability of multiple parties. In my 29 years of being an attorney, I have never seen anyone even propose doing it on a holiday, much less the biggest one of the summer. It would never happen because logistically it makes no sense and no lawyer or court reporter is working that day. I once got called for jury duty and it was for July 3rd. There were hundreds of us at court that day and everyone was dismissed by 10:00 a.m. Legal work doesn’t happen then.
2. The original issue started September 25, 2025. This episode is July 4, 2026. September 25th was a Thursday. Even if crazy pants mom decided to call a lawyer the next day, the actual injury would not manifest itself then so any attorney would at most say, “let’s keep in touch and see what happens.” But let’s suspend reality and assume they knew he had irreversible brain damage by October 10th. The next step would be to obtain his medical records. The earliest they would conceivably have all of the needed medical records would put them into November. He probably was sent to a rehab facility and/or has been treating with a neurologist. So there are thousands of pages of records.
3. Medical malpractice lawyers do not file a case the day you hire them or the day they get the records. So if an attorney had all of the records on November 15, they would have thousands of pages to pore through. The first thing law firms do is an internal review, often by nurses on staff, to see if they see signs of medical malpractice. If the assigned person drops everything, that can take a few days to properly do. Of course they would not drop everything, but again, suspending reality, we are going to assume they did it ASAP and told the client it was worth investigating right before Thanksgiving.
4. Expert review is needed. In Pennsylvania, just like Illinois where I am, you need a certificate of merit by a doctor to file a medical malpractice lawsuit. Just like how depositions do not happen on July 4th, doctors are not reviewing thousands of pages over the Thanksgiving period. Beyond that, the law firm would have to prepare a written summary for the doctor outlining their theory of the case. On average, the review process for a law firm with an expert before a lawsuit can be filed takes six months to a year from the time records are first received. In other words, under the best case scenario, a lawsuit would have been filed in May or 2026. Brain injuries are of course complex so they take longer to review. It is possible that more than one expert would be needed.
5. The actual injury could not be known. Brain injuries can change over time, especially if there is brain function. With children, developmental delays take longer to sort out. It is one reason in Illinois that there is an eight year time limit for suing for medical malpractice for kids.
6. Nothing in the treatment was close to medical malpractice! This is the biggest problem I have. In order to win a medical malpractice lawsuit, you have to prove that the medical provider violated the standard of care. In this case, the proper treatment for someone with measles and a suspected brain injury is a spinal tap. Does a spinal tap have risks? Of course it does. But you can not sue a doctor for an injury that has known risks. At least not successfully. And because a medical expert is required to sue, this lawsuit would never be filed in the first place because no credible doctor would state that the injury was most likely from a spinal tap or that choosing to do a spinal tap was unreasonable. The obvious explanation is that this is an injury from measles.
7. But wouldn’t a quack doctor state that it was malpractice? I bet that could happen, but these cases are incredibly expensive. Most medical malpractice cases cost $100,000 or more to get to trial. So an attorney would have to spend their own money on the hopes that a jury would believe their nutso doctor over the defense experts who surely would be credible. This would not happen and is why you will never see an attorney file a malpractice lawsuit that they know is frivolous. And if they discover along the way it’s not a case, they will cut their losses and withdraw. In Pennsylvania, you have to convince more than 80% of the jury that malpractice happened. If it’s a jury of 12 that means 10 or more must agree with you. Would you role the dice on $100,000 hoping that 10 people believe your doctor over common sense?
8. Even if it was somehow a case and people took depositions on July 4, the timeline still makes no sense. Depositions are a big part of every medical malpractice case. But they do not happen right after a lawsuit gets filed. In fact, if the lawsuit was filed in May or June, the first court appearance might not have happened yet. There are initial court dates. The defense has to respond in writing to the lawsuit. Each side exchanges written questions with each other. The defense is given a long time to have the medical records reviewed, conduct interviews, seek out their own experts, etc. It would be stunning if a deposition of one of the doctors being sued took place within the first year of a lawsuit being filed. Certainly not this quickly nor less than a year after the alleged malpractice.
9. The deposition would not happen at the hospital. It would likely be at the defense attorney’s office and Mel would not have worked that day, but most likely would have spent some time preparing for the deposition with her lawyer. And even if it was somehow at the hospital, you likely would not be taking the depositions of multiple doctors on the same day. The plaintiff’s attorneys would want at least a day or two to review the first one as it could inform questions they ask on the next one.
10. July 4th is a Saturday. Even if somehow any lawyers were working on the 4th, nobody takes depositions on the weekend. Absurd!

I am sure there is something else I am missing. Surprising to me that they surely spend a bunch of money on medical consultants, but appear to have spent a penny talking to an attorney to get that scenario even closer to reality. A way better approach would be to make it a different story line that led to the lawsuit or maybe even just having her served with the lawsuit that day in front of everyone and seeing how she reacts. But this nothing burger lawsuit would never happen and neither would anything associated with the deposition.

I still love the show and enjoyed the episode, but man was it a sharp deviation from the philosophy of incredible accuracy. And by the way, almost every episode has an example of something that could turn into a med mal case, including this one. And it was with Mel! She was under orders to stay with the patient who was at risk of an eye stroke and she left her. Would have been much more realistic for something bad to happen after she left and then the family to scream that they were going to sue her or someone from administration to tell her that she is at risk of a lawsuit due to her actions. And probably more interesting.