Opinion: What lingers in ‘The Pitt’ is heartache. What’s missing is outrage

Back to news list

Source: STAT News

Original: https://www.statnews.com/2026/01/18/the-pitt-covid-failures-despair/?utm_campaig...

Published: Sun, 18 Jan 2026 12:00:00 +0000

An ER doctor expresses hunger for a portrayal of Covid that tells the truth and acknowledges that what happened wasn't just unbearable, it was bad. The article is an opinion piece on the series "The Pitt", which focuses on daily life in the notaufnahme of a hospital in Pittsburgh. The main character is the primary Dr. Michael "Robby" Robinavitch, played by Noah Wyle, who suffers from the trauma of the pandemic when his mentor died four years ago. Each episode of the series depicts one hour of a 15-hour shift in an understaffed and underfunded hospital. The staff faces staff shortages, administrative pressures, ethical dilemmas, violent attacks and crises like the festival massacre. The series shows the mental burden of health workers, improvisation and rationing of resources in saving lives. The doctor emphasizes that the heartache remains in the series, but the outrage is missing.[1][2][3][4][5]