ER HEADQUARTERS.COM // Chat Transcripts
 

WB Online6:  Copyright 1997 Warner Bros.

OnlineHost:  Good evening! The WB Virtual Lot Presents:  CyberTalk(TM)!  Tonight we are joined by the two medical technical advisors for the #1 series on TV.  Dr. Joe Sachs and Dr. Fred Einesman are the on-set doctors who guide the actors on "ER" in order to help maintain medical authenticity for each hospital scene.  Welcome Dr. Joe Sachs and Dr. Fred Einesman!

WB ER :  Hi, it's great to be here!

WB ER MDs:  Dr. J:  We're ready for your questions.

WB Online6:  Our first question comes from PEETZO....

WB Online6:  On the show, what are the hearts made of?

WB ER MDs:  They're silicone casts prepared by artists and detailed by the make-up department.

WB Online6:  From AMERS 883...

Question:  I have a question for the ER Doc's....When you were in Medical School..Did you know that you wanted to work with  television too?

WB ER MDs:  Dr. F:  I made films before going to medical school.  Both Joe and I are graduates of film school.  Joe went to film school at Stanford while in medical school.  I graduated from film school at USC.

WB Online6:  From CTB33....

Question:  ER is my favorite show.  What is some advice for a high school student very interested in pursuing medicine.?

WB ER MDs:  Dr. J:  You have to do well in college.  And I'd advise doing some volunteer work in the hospital to see if you really like it.

WB Online6:  From FargoFeli...

WB Online6:  What kind of accidents do you see the most of on the show and in real life?

WB ER MDs:  Dr. J:  Let's start with real life.  Lots of traffic accidents, sports injuries, victims violence.

WB ER MDs:  Dr. F:  Both Joe and I work in trauma centers so many of the scenes that you see on the show are based on real-life experiences.

WB Online6:  From JBatza665....

Question:  What is your LEAST favorite part about surgery?

WB ER MDs:  Dr. J:  We are emergency medicine specialists.  So we do surgical procedures in the emergency department, but we don't actually do formal surgery in the operating room.

WB ER MDs:  Dr. F:  Our favorite part is when everything goes right.  And our least favorite part is when everything goes wrong.

WB Online6:  Another question from PEETZO...

WB Online6:  Who is your favorite doctor (besides for yourselves) on ER?

WB ER MDs:  Dr. J:  We love them all!  :  ) (I want to keep my job)

WB Online6:  From RODDY ONE...

Question:  What is your opinion of AIDS being the plague of this century?

WB ER MDs:  Dr. J:  AIDS is certainly the biggest public health concern and crisis of our time.

WB ER MDs:  Dr. F:  Just like plagues in the past, hopefully public health measures will have the greatest impact on reducing this terrible disease.

WB Online6:  From AMERS 883...

Question:  How old were you when you knew that you wanted to be a doctor?

WB ER MDs:  Dr. F:  Five years old.  I bumped my head on the end of the bed and had to go to the emergency room for stitches.  The doctor was so impressed when I didn't cry, he told me I ought to grow up and be a doctor.  I guess that did it.

WB ER MDs:  Dr. J:  Seventh grade for me.  Dissecting an earthworm was pretty cool.

WB Online6:  From KGotos...

WB Online6:  Is it hard not to lecture people with your profession?

WB ER MDs:  Dr. J:  It would be impossible to lecture everyone who smokes, is overweight, and has other unhealthy lifestyles.  So you can't preach to everyone.

WB Online6:  From CTB33...

Question:  I love your show.  Did the actors have to undergo any sort of medical training or, do they learn as they go along?

WB ER MDs:  Dr. F:  Combination of both.  At the beginning of the series, lots of time was spent showing all the actors the basics.  But now, 3 years into it, they're all old pros.  Most of t he time we simply have to rehearse scenes once or twice and they have all the procedures down.

WB ER MDs:  Dr. J:  We're introducing some new characters so we have to start with them from square one.

WB ER MDs:  Dr. F:  The actors really like the complicated stuff because they think the routine stuff is now too easy for them.  We have to come up with new challenges just to keep them interested. :  )

WB Online6:  From DJS2636...

WB Online6:  What is your favorite medical joke?

WB ER MDs:  Dr. J:  What's yours?  :  )

WB ER MDs:  Dr J:  Nurse:  " Doctor, the invisible man is here to see you."

WB ER MDs:  Doctor:  "Tell him I can't see him right now."

WB Online6:  From AMERS 883.....

Question:  I love the show..Have you been on the show or are you ever going to be on the show?

WB ER MDs:  Dr. J:  I played the paramedic bringing in a patient who was choking on his partial plate of dentures in the first season episode "Motherhood" directed by Quentin Tarantino.  I also played a paramedic in the episode "Hell And High Water" helping to load "Ben" , the drowning victim, on a helicopter. Fred has yet to have his dramatic premiere on network television.

WB Online6:  From RODDY ONE...

WB Online6:  How has being a doctor changed your life, habits, etc.?

WB ER MDs:  Dr. F:  I sleep less.  I always wear my seat belt :  )  Friends ask me for prescriptions all the time.

WB Online6:  From Tearsange...

WB Online6:  Do you enjoy working with George Clooney?

WB ER MDs:  Dr. J:  No!

WB ER MDs:  Dr. F:  No!

WB ER MDs:  We're just kidding :  )

WB ER MDs:  Dr. J:  George is a great guy.  Very funny and very smart.  And in spite of all of his success, he's very, very down to earth.

WB ER MDs:  Dr. F:  If you wanted to have a buddy in college, George is the guy who you'd want to have as that buddy.

WB Online6:  From Alloyd50.....

WB Online6:  How did you get hooked up with advising ER?

WB ER MDs:  Dr. J:  Before the show was even on the air, one of the write-producers called my hospital doing research on the show.  We got to talking, and with my film background, one thing lead to another.

WB ER MDs:  Dr. F:  And when they realized that Joe really couldn't work 220 hours a week, producer Lance Gentile (also a doctor who went to film school the same time I did) called and begged me to save Joe :  )

WB Online6:  From Draven318....

WB Online6:  How many hours do you spend advising?

WB ER MDs:  Dr. F:  Joe and I alternate episodes.  When it's one of our shooting episodes, we're on the set 14-15 hours a day for an 8 day shoot.  During prep week, we spend 8-hour days meeting with the writers, the prop department, make-up, special effects, etc...

WB ER MDs:  Dr. J:  I've also written two freelance episodes, "A Shift In The Night" from April '96 and "Make A Wish" from May of this year.

WB Online6:  From Hemp dog...

WB Online6:  I just had triple bi-pass surgery, will prop. 215 allow me to smoke marijuana?

WB ER MDs:  Dr. F:  Consult your private physician. :  )

WB Online6:  From Wordbyrd....

Question:  What is each of your specialties?

WB ER MDs:  Dr. F:  I'm a board certified emergency physician.

WB ER MDs:  Dr. J:  I did a combined residency in emergency medicine and internal medicine.

WB Online6:  A Comment from Kelly44....

WB Online6:  Did the sight of blood EVER make you queasy?

WB ER MDs:  Dr. J:  Not really.  You get used to it.  But there are some injuries that do still affect me.  Like a shotgun blast to the face at close range.

WB ER MDs:  Dr. F:  Joe and I spend time trying to think of ways to gross out the actors who pretend not to be affected by it all.  But one graphic picture from a medical text book can really gross them all out :  )

WB Online6:  From Sassy405....

WB Online6:  Which of the actors on the show do you think would make the best doctor in real life?  An would you venture to say who would make the worst? :  )

WB ER MDs:  Dr. F:  Laura Innes...a good neurologist. she's very precise and analytical. George Clooney...a sports medicine doctor.  A jock at heart.

WB ER MDs:  Eriq LaSalle...A psychiatrist,  he's much deeper than his character.

WB ER MDs:  Noah Wyle...a pediatrician, he has a very gentle heart.

WB ER MDs:  Anthony Edwards...an ER doctor, he's very much like his character.

WB Online6:  Gloria Reuben ... would practice holistic medicine......

WB Online6:  Juliana Margulies.... a dermatologist with her line of skin care products.

WB Online6:  Our last question comes from DocGorge7...

WB Online6:  How much, if any, dramatic license is taken when showing trauma scenes?  Or is it a fairly accurate portrayal of what goes on?

WB ER MDs:  Dr. J:  We compress time.  Drugs work faster than they do in real life and procedures go quicker.  In the trauma rooms, real doctors would wear masks when treating a bloody patient but so much emotion is played on the face that we take dramatic license. In the formal operating room, however, everyone wears masks.

WB ER MDs:  Dr. F:  We really try hard to make the scenes reflect what it's really like in the emergency department.

WB ER MDs:  Dr. J:  Many emergency room doctors and nurses tell us that they can't watch the show because it's too much like being at work.  In a way, that's a really good compliment.

WB Online6:  We would like to thank "ER" Medical Advisors Dr. Joe Sachs and Dr. Fred Einesman for joining us tonight on this week's Virtual Lot CyberTalk(TM)! Watch ER every Thursday night @ 10 pm .

WB Online6:  What is YOUR diagnosis? Take the ER poll at www.virtuallot.com. And say Happy Birthday to Noah Wyle in the ER message boards. Keyword:  ER. Tomorrow, chat with the funniest comics in the nation LIVE from 'Catch A Rising Star' at the Toyota Comedy festival. keyword:  CyberTalk.

WB Online6:  Do you have any final words for your cyberpals, Joe and Fred?

WB ER MDs:  Dr. J:  I'd like to say "Happy Birthday" to my mother in Connecticut.  And I'd like to thank the fans for all the support they give the show.

WB ER MDs:  Dr. F:  Thank you all for sharing tonight with us.

WB Online6:  Thank you, everyone! See you at keyword:  CyberTalk and keyword:  warnerbros. Good Night, everyone!

Online Host:  Copyright 1997 America Online, Inc. All Rights Reserved ========================
More about this Event: 

06/11  "ER" Medical Advisors 9:  00pm ET (Coliseum)

How does "Dr. Greene" know which instrument to grab when performing an emergency appendectomy?  Who guides "Dr. Carter" on his suturing technique?  What's the difference between a laryngoscope and an endotracheal tube?

As on-set medical advisors, Dr. Joe Sachs and Dr. Fred Einesman provide all the technical expertise on the very-controlled-but-often-hectic set of "ER."  They are the men behind-the-scenes who give the "ER" actors their scene-by-scene crash course in emergency medical procedures.  With on-site instruction by Dr. Sachs and Dr. Einesman, and a touch of dramatic license, technical accuracy is maintained thus providing viewers with a realistic portrayal of how doctors function in a big-city hospital. 

Both doctors are heavily involved in the production of "ER" and their accuracy demands strict attention.  They prepare a medical/technical breakdown of each scene which details the action, props, wardrobe and makeup required for all scenes involving medical action.  All this hard work comes together each week to produce a highly dramatic, yet very realistic, view of life in the "ER." 

So join all the "ER" fans in cyberspace and get your questions ready to talk with the on-set medical technical advisors, Dr. Joe Sachs and Dr. Fred Einesman when they visit The Virtual Lot's CyberTalk on Wednesday, June 11th at 9:  00 PM ET!

DR. JOE SACHS
("ER" Technical Advisor)

This Hartford native got his degree in biology from Yale University and went on to earn degrees in medicine and film from Stanford University.  Dr. Sachs has successfully combined his experience in medicine and film resulting in an impressive list of credentials.  In addition to his extensive work in the medical field, Dr. Sachs directed the emergency department scenes for "Angels:  The Mysterious Messengers" for NBC Television, acted as medical consultant on ABC Television's "A Place for Annie," and served as script and medical consultant on "Deadly Roses."

His extensive list of honors and awards include an award in the Communication Category at the John Muir Medical Film Festival and the National Award for Clinical Excellence from the Emergency Medicine Resident's Association.

In addition to his work on "ER," Dr. Sachs remains on the clinical faculty at UCLA and is also a working partner in an emergency group at Northridge Medical Center.

Event Keyword:  "WBLot"


Transmitted: 6/13/1997 12:58 PM