Surviving ‘The Pitt’

Hit HBO medical drama underscores the impact of stress in the workplace

Dr. Samira Mohan (Supriya Ganesh) suffers a panic attack — which she first mistakes as a heart attack — during an episode of the HBO Max drama “The Pitt.” Her supervisor, Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch (Noah Wyle), dismisses her concerns about stress when he learns about the diagnosis. (Warner Discovery)

It’s a scene that could have been lifted from a leadership training video; the kind that screams “don’t do this!” An emergency room resident thinks she’s having a heart attack and is being treated by her colleagues. The ER chief physician, who is also her boss, at first shows concern. “You OK? You don’t look OK,” he says. “Any chance you’re pregnant?” The resident is reluctant to answer the question but ultimately says she is not.

After the doctor quizzes her about her symptoms, she unbottles pent-up angst and screams about everything that is wrong about her life, including unresolved tension with her mother.

“I’m doing everything right. It’s everything around me that’s (messed) up,” she says. “It’s just my mom moving, and calling me over and over again, and now me scrambling to find a job next year. I had it all planned out, and now everything is just out the window.”

That’s when her boss’ tone shifts to anger.

“Is this a panic attack because of your mommy issues? Jesus, do you need to go home?” he says, shaking his head and laughing. “Go home! I don’t need the (bleeping) liability!” The exchange between Dr. Samira Mohan (Supriya Ganesh) and Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch (Noah Wyle) from the hit HBO Max drama “The Pitt” underscores how stress can create unhealthy workplace situations, a theme that runs throughout the series.

Dr. Robby, who is struggling with his own personal demons, vacillates between making good leadership decisions and making poor ones.

During the recent webinar, “Identifying Mental Health Needs in the Workplace,” sponsored by Sheehan Phinney and presented by NH Business Review, I used this example to pose some questions to panelist Madeline Hutchings, who is both an attorney and a psychotherapist.

How can a manager regroup after they reacted poorly to dealing with a worker facing emotional distress? What are the legal ramifications?

“Legal ramifications are something to think about, because you want to make sure the relationship is restored and nobody feels harassed or threatened on an ongoing basis,” said Hutchings, who was not familiar with the show. “But how do you come back from that in an interpersonal, workforce wellness perspective?” In this case, part of the process is understanding what a panic attack entails.

“When I first heard the term ‘panic attack,’ I had no idea that it rose to the level of really feeling like a heart attack … Doctors have panic attacks and think they are having heart attacks. This is something that is a very serious issue that, again, based on your show, even doctors don’t always know about.”

The next step is becoming informed. “To be able to come back and just say, ‘You know, I realize that I had a major knowledge gap, and I sought information to figure out how I responded, and how I wasn’t scientifically informed, and I just need to apologize about how that happened.’” Hutchings didn’t consider it a legal issue if such a conversation takes place after the incident.

“To make those reparations is worthwhile and to be able to say, ‘I didn’t know then. Now I know. How can we accommodate?’”

Webinar panelist Jennifer Landon, a certified grief educator and coach with YGM Training & Consulting, said her husband experienced a panic attack due to work stress from repeated bullying by his general manager.

“He started to have panic attacks, and they displayed as heart attacks,” Landon said. “He was down to 170 pounds — at 6-foot-4 — because of the stress on the job site, because of the mental health conditions that were imposed upon him.

“It’s pretty scary to think that having a panic attack lands you in the hospital due to it displaying as a heart attack.”

Read more about the webinar on page 15.