Medic (TV Series) The Inconstant Heart (1956) User Reviews

Even though he didn't realize it Richard Forbes is a very sick man.

[kapelusznik18 · 6/10 · 15 May 2016]

***SPOILERS*** Born with what's called a "leaking heart" 37 year old Richard Forbes, Robin Long,never expected to live into adulthood so he felt that every year he lived after his 7th birthday was a gift and never bothered to get any more medical help, other then an an oxygen tank and mask, then he already got.

It was Forbes' family doctor Stevens, Emerson Tracey,who at the insistence of his wife Ruth, Marianne Stewart, who got him to get to see cardiologist Dr, Santana, Michael Granger, to find out just what modern medicine can do for him before it's too late. It's decided to put Forbes through the ringer with a strong dose of atomic medicine as we well the newly discovered procedure of Angiocardiography to first correct and then cure his once fatal heart condition.

Operated on and looked after in the hospital the treatment turned out to be a complete success for Forbes who at first didn't want anything to do with it. If it wasn't for Forbes' wife Ruth and Dr. Stevens to get him to get off his duff and do something about it his heart would soon have stopped beating and left him as dead as a door nail when as it turned out modern medicine did have a cure for him that Forbes-in living in the past- was totally ignorant of.

Challenging

[dougdoepke · 14 January 2016]

There's more medical exposition in this entry than the usual human drama. Family man Dick Forbes (Short) has been living with a breathing problem since birth. His rather testy personality has seemingly helped him survive beyond expectations. The problem (if I understand) lies with a failure of the heart to get enough oxygen to the lungs. But x-ray technology has been too weak to locate the exact location, so surgery is deemed too risky. That is, until "atomic medicine", which has developed radiology beyond the limits of traditional x-ray technology. Now Dick has a chance, if he can just decide to take it.

As the medical staff inserts a catheter, there's a lot of voice-over explaining what's going on with the new radiology that will map Dick's problem. Explanation is done in literate English without too much medical lingo. Still, I can see why the show might have limited popular appeal. Nonetheless, I came away knowing a lot more about radiology than when I went in. Thanks producer Miner and writer Moser for pushing the TV envelope.