“Doctor Cha” embroiled in controversy over disparaging herbal medicine, JTBC made a decision
Production company JTBC took action as the drama “Doctor Cha” was recently criticized for disparaging herbal medicine.
The first and second episodes of JTBC’s drama “Doctor Cha”, which aired on April 15th and 16th, dealt with liver transplantation.
The main character Cha Jung Sook (Uhm Jung Hwa) was hospitalized with acute hepatitis after taking a medicine made at a herbal store. Suffering from side effects after taking herbal medicine given by her mother, Cha Jung Sook was in a serious situation where she had to receive a liver transplant.
Although this dialogue was intended to dramatically depict Cha Jung Sook’s motivation to develop the dream of becoming a doctor again, some viewers who watched the drama pointed out that the scene “disparaged herbal medicine without providing clear evidence”. On Naver TV, one netizen drew attention with their comment, saying “So the liver problem was caused by the herbal medicine? Who is going to take responsibility for the damage that such blame would cause to those working with herbal medicine?… The writer who blindly believes in doctors made false incitement without evidence.”
In addition, the Association of Korean Medicine actually sent JTBC proof of contents and a letter demanding fact-checking and information correction.
Afterwards, JTBC decided to edit the controversial scene and muted only the word “herbal medicine”. Although the production team revealed that the medicine in the drama was not created by a qualified herbal medicine doctor, it was not easy to soothe public rage.
Even after the scene was edited, negative opinions are still pouring out on the viewers’ bulletin board, arguing that it is possible to make speculation on the situation based on the previous and following scenes. Some herbal medicine doctors also expressed regret that the drama production team should have received professional consultation before creating unconfirmed herbal medicine-related content. They even emphasized that prescribed standardized herbal medicine is actually safe.
Meanwhile, “Doctor Cha” is gaining attention from drama fans as its ratings are steadily rising. According to Nielsen Korea, it surpassed 10% rating after airing only 4 episodes.
“Doctor Cha” tells about Cha Jung Sook, who has lived as a housewife for more than 20 years since graduating from medical school, becoming a first-year medical resident.
Source: Wikitree
