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Patch Adams Movie Review
Abigael Warstler
Nursing, Lord Fairfax Community College
NSG130 Professional Nursing Concepts
Kristina Simpson & Glenna Hovermale
November 18, 2020
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Patch Adams Movie Review
The film Patch Adams, directed by Tom Shadyac, is based on the book Gesundheit:
Good Health Is a Laughing Matter by Dr. Hunter “Patch” Adams and Maureen Mylander. It
depicts the journey of Dr. Adams, played by Robin Williams, as he realizes his calling to help
people through recognizing the doctors’ lack of compassion at the mental hospital where he had
admitted himself due to suicidal thoughts. Finding that the other patients benefitted from
personal interaction, empathy, and humor, he tried to provide this the best he could from his
current position as a fellow patient. From his experience at the mental hospital, he decided to
pursue his new calling through becoming a doctor. Through his determination and selflessness,
he eventually shifts the universally accepted communication standards, ethical outlook, and
quality of care in the medical field from a strictly diagnosis-based approach to a compassionate,
patient-based approach. Because of this altruistic nature, however, he violates some ethical
principles of the medical field resulting in his expulsion from medical school. He believed that
good intent behind his actions and the fact that people benefitted from them, made his expulsion
undeserved. He therefore appealed his expulsion to the state medical board who determined that
his actions were questionable yet, due to their overall benefit to the patients’ health, allowed him
to graduate. (Farrell, 1998)
There were many examples of ethical principles being broken in this movie, both from
the protagonist himself and the antagonistic system. The first example from the system that Patch
later tries to reform happens at the beginning of the movie when the psychologist is listening to
Hunter Adams at the mental hospital at one of their regular meetings. The doctor was
disinterested, distracted, and not making any attempt to connect with the patient whatsoever. This
is an example of negligence. His neglect was evident to Mr. Adams, so he tested the doctor by
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saying nonsense. The doctor did not react to this, proving to him that the doctor was not trying to
help him and did not care. Another example happened later in the movie when Adams was in the
hospital. He witnessed a mother who was in a horrible accident and lost her husband, crying. She
wanted to see her severely injured daughter, however, the hospital staff was making her fill out
forms first. This might be the protocol to allowing visitors, but in this situation, there needed to
be compassion and empathy shown by the staff. Instead, on this woman’s worst day, she was
shown no compassion by the facility in charge of healing her daughter. This not only breaks her
trust and causes the woman anguish; it could come back later as a lawsuit against the hospital.
The examples from Adams himself were more on the legal side of ethics. In the
beginning of his medical training, he dons a white coat received at a meat processing event and
impersonates a doctor. While he is doing so to try to help patients from a humor-based approach,
he is still committing fraud and could be prosecuted for his actions. He later starts a community
clinic. This would not be an ethical violation if he had completed medical school first, however,
he had not graduated. This is also practicing medicine without a license and impersonating a
doctor. Ethically, it can be argued that he was helping others, but it can also be argued that he
was committing fraud.
In this movie, there were also examples of communication in the medical field, both
affective and ineffective. The first example was also an example of an ethical issue. When the
psychologist was evaluating Adams’ progress in the mental hospital, he was disinterested and
clearly lacking active listening skills. He did not make eye contact or give any evidence that he
was paying attention. This was poor communication at the fault of the healthcare provider that
could have severely affected the patient.
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Another example of communication in the movie is through Patch Adams himself. He
revolutionized the idea of communicating with the patient. One example of this is when he is
visiting the problematic, dying patient. The patient lashes out, yet Adams remains calm. He later
communicating with him again through a humor-based approach. Connecting empathetically, he
gets on the patient’s level and connects with him personally. He does this in a way that no other
healthcare worker has done with this man, providing him joy and peace before he later dies.
Throughout the whole movie Adam’s approach to communication is a great example for all
healthcare workers. He uses humor when appropriate, eye contact, and his smile to connect with
his patients building trust and creating an environment of happiness amid desperate, life altering
medical situations.
This movie allows those seeking a career in the medical field to see both extremes when
it comes to handling patients. While the medical system in the movie lacks any sense of
compassion or empathy toward the patient as a human being, Adam’s unprofessional, careless
approach raised its own issues. As a nursing student, one can gather that there is a need for both
upholding a professional image, while also treating the patient as a whole.
Another specific lesson that nursing students can take away from this experience is
through the death of Adam’s significant other in the film. Adams told her that the patient she was
leery of was no stranger than himself. This instilled a false sense of safety around this mentally
ill patient. The woman later put herself in a dangerous situation that resulted in her death. This is
also a case of two extremes. One should not fear their patients or think of them as “weird” as the
woman expressed in the movie, this leads to mistreatment. (Farrell, 1998) There should be a
level of understanding allowing the patient to disclose information about themselves without
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feeling judged. Nonetheless, there needs to be a level of professionalism maintained and
healthcare providers should never enter a situation with potentially dangerous outcomes.
Lastly, nursing students can take away from this film the sense that if they feel something
isn’t ethical, they should bring it to the attention of their superiors and advocate for change when
they feel it is necessary. Medicine is ever evolving and, knowing this, each person in the system
should feel an obligation to try to improve upon current protocols and formalities through
evidence-based research.
In conclusion, the movie Patch Adams provided many examples of ethical issues and
communication skills for future medical professionals to use for learning. The story of Dr.
Hunter “Patch” Adams helped revolutionize the medical field into what it is today. We all must
keep in mind the patient as a whole, and not focus solely on the diagnosis being addressed at the
time. Interrelated concepts such as psychological effects, social effects, and others are especially
important to consider when addressing a patient’s needs. This film provided a public way to
instill this idea in its viewers and make medical professionals consider making compassion and
empathy standard practice.
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References
Farrell, M. (Producer), & Shadyac, T. (Director). (1998). Patch Adams [Motion Picture].
United States: Bungalow Universal Productions.
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