[HanCinema's News] "Doctor Cha" Apologizes to Crohn's Disease Patients

On May 10th, the production company behind "Doctor Cha" posted an apology to the official website for the medical drama. The contrversy stems from the airing of the drama's seventh episode, which depicts a patient suffering from Crohn's disease. Some people suffering from Crohn's disease as well as their family members were offended by the depiction. In the apology, "Doctor Cha" stated that the intent of the episode was not to stereotype people with Crohn's disease.

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Supposedly, the character in question was meant to be an unusually severe case of Crohn's disease. However, "Doctor Cha" acknowledged that not enough effort was made to make it clear that this was not a common version of the illness, and apologized for causing pain to people through this lack of clarity. In the drama, a character accuses the patient of behaving poorly by hiding their disease while planning to get married. The disease is also described as hereditary.

Crohn's disease is not believed to be a hereditary disease by doctors, and indeed, actual doctors in "Doctor Cha" do not make this claim, only laypeople. "Doctor Cha" promised to be more mindful of such implications in the future. "Doctor Cha" airs on Saturdays and Sundays on JTBC, and had ratings of 16.181% in its most recent episode, the eighth, which aired on May 7th.

Written by William Schwartz

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"Doctor Cha" is directed by Kim Dae-jin, Kim Jung-wook-II, written by Jung Yeo-rang, and features Uhm Jung-hwa, Kim Byung-chul, Min Woo-hyuk, Myung Se-bin, Song Ji-ho, Jo Aram. Broadcasting information in Korea: 2023/04/15~Now airing, Sat, Sun 22:30 on JTBC.