SBS’s hit medical drama Doctor X: Mafia in White, starring Kim Ji Won, is facing backlash from doctors over its portrayal of medical professionals and alleged inaccuracies, despite drawing a nationwide rating of 14.9% by its second episode.
The controversy stems from a scene in which brilliant surgeon Gye Su Jeong (played by Kim Ji Won) confronts colleagues who insist on performing open surgery to appease the hospital director.
“I hate guys like you. People who studied just to make money and get ahead. Smart people with no ethics or principles,” she says. “A patient’s life is at stake, and all you care about is how to sweep things under the rug. You guys are pathetic.”
While viewers praised the scene for calling out the hospital’s authoritarian culture, some medical professionals accused the drama of unfairly vilifying doctors.
One commenter who identified themselves as an orthopedic surgeon wrote on an online forum, “Real-world healthcare relies on the cooperation of numerous medical professionals, but the drama portrays ordinary, hardworking medical staff as one-dimensional villains who are incompetent and unethical, all to make a single genius stand out.”
Other practicing specialists echoed the criticism, saying, “The drama’s unrealistic premise only deepens distrust and misconceptions about medical professionals,” and “The portrayal goes too far in demonizing ordinary doctors.”
The drama has also drawn criticism over its medical accuracy, including a patient with an inguinal hernia being rushed into emergency surgery and inadequate anesthetic care during a blood pressure crisis.
Namgung In, an emergency medicine professor at Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital who served as an on-set medical consultant, addressed the issue on social media.
“If you spot something medically inaccurate, just assume the consultants and production team argued over it, and the consultants had to give in,” he wrote, acknowledging the tension between medical accuracy and dramatic storytelling.
Separately, the show has faced criticism over a scene in which a teenager with Type 1 diabetes is called a “druggie” by peers while injecting insulin.
Families of children with diabetes expressed concern on the show’s viewer message board, saying that while they understood the intent to address prejudice, such language could reinforce stigma and misconceptions among young viewers.
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