Hospital Romances Fiction, Study Finds

The hospital romances often fictionalized in romance novels may be fiction in real-life, according to one researcher.

In a recent report, published in a recent issue of The Lancet found that the steamy hospital love affairs just don’t happen in the real world. Researcher Brendan Kelly, a senior lecturer in psychiatry at the University of Dublin, who also met his wife of three years while in medical school, studied romance novels where the romantic interests involved those who worked in the medical field together.

Click here to read the full Lancet report

Most novels were set in primary care or emergency room settings, including emergency medicine departments and airborne medical teams while the rest where in general hospitals and maternities. The central characters were usually male doctors in emergency, primary care, surgery, obstetrics, neonatology or pediatrics, and the 20 female characters were either doctors or nurses.

Dr. Kelly claims that the picture painted in most of these novels of doctors ripping off their shirts and saving a female patient just doesn’t happen. "The real ER is a lot less exciting, I regret to tell you," said Dr. Brendan Kelly, senior lecturer in psychiatry at University College Dublin in Ireland.

However, one doctor, who also met his wife while attending an academic medical center, somewhat disagrees. "The potential for romance is high in emotionally intense settings such as hospitals," said Dr. A. Mark Fendrick, professor of medicine at the University of Michigan. "The dismal record for medical marriage longevity shows once again that fiction does not mimic reality."