10 Medical Drama Television Reveals That Are Outright Tearjerkers

Medical television dramas handle life and death in every episode. The very best of them are outright tearjerkers that can raise your spirit or break your soul.
Medical professionals, attorneys, and authorities have actually constantly worked well on television, as all have life-and-death circumstances in their daily expert lives, however if you require an excellent cry, medical professionals are your best choice to get it. Considering That St. In Other Places in the ’80s, medical dramas have actually been the location to opt for fantastic characters, fascinating clients, and circumstances that will break your soul.
If that wasn’t enough, considering that ER, they have actually included another layer as medical professionals’ romantic lives have actually ended up being complex and have as huge of stakes as their medical cases. That made audiences fall for characters and their romance, including another method to produce dispute that can make you sob. Be it since of a client, the turmoil of the ER, an operation, a love statement, a divorce, a mishap, or the death of a precious character, medical dramas have actually turned into one of the most satisfying, yet outright heartbreakers in the television landscape. Get your tissues out and keep in mind, as here are 10 medical drama television series that are tearjerkers.
Conserving Hope (2012 – 2019)
Conserving Hope was a medical drama with a supernatural twist. While the medical professionals, and particularly Chief of Surgical treatment, Alex Reid (Erica Durance), attempted to conserve their clients, there was likewise the perspective of her fiancée in a coma, Dr. Charlie Harris (Michael Shanks), who strolled the health center as a spirit.
What Makes it a Tearjerker?
The supernatural concept currently offers it a far more mournful and melancholic perspective, as Dr. Harris can never ever engage with the love of his life, and sees how she begins to move her life together with time. The medical cases likewise attempted to reveal the unfortunate truth that every physician deals with in their everyday life, as there are as lots of hard choices as they come, often times, life and death choices.
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Personal Practice (2007 – 2013)

private practice
- Release Date
- September 26, 2007
- Cast
- Kate Walsh, Paul Adelstein, Kadee Strickland, Caterina Scorsone, Taye Diggs, Amy Brenneman, Benjamin Bratt, Brian Benben
- Categories
- Funny, Drama
This Grey’s Anatomy spin-off followed Dr. Addison Montgomery (Kate Walsh) as a neonatal physician in a Los Angeles center. Just like its sibling program, in Private Practice, there was as much drama in the medical spaces as in the individual lives of the medical professionals, with love, death, and sex becoming part of their day-to-day regimen.
Why You Will Weep
It followed the exact same formula as Grey’s Anatomy, producing fantastic clients, drama for its medical professionals, and as much love as death for its characters. The truth that the center handled gynecology, likewise made it a lot more visceral, as every client had some infant or fetus-related issue, making it a far more fragile scenario, as infants are as vulnerable and unprotected as they come.
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Nurse Jackie (2009 – 2015)

Nurse Jackie
- Release Date
- June 8, 2009
- Cast
- Edie Falco, Paul Schulze, Peter Facinelli, Dominic Fumusa, Anna Deavere Smith, Betty Gilpin
- Categories
- Funny, Drama, Thriller
Nurse Jackie may be the anti-hero variation of a medical drama, as its lead, Jackie (Edie Falco), has an untidy individual life (not the very best mom, had affairs, and had a dependency to pain relievers), however if you went to her health center, you would desire her to assist you endure, as her capabilities as a nurse never ever fluctuated.
What Makes Nurse Jackie a Tearjerker?
For as soon as, the perspective of the health center wasn’t on its medical professionals, however on its nurses, who may have a much larger individual connection to every client they deal with. In between that and the mess of an individual Jackie was, there were lots of unfortunate minutes, both in her expert and individual life, leaving you empty after an excellent cry in the majority of its episodes.
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This Is Going to Hurt – (2015)
Based Upon Adam Kay’s narrative, This Is Going to Hurt informs the real-life experiences of an English junior physician, Adam (Ben Whishaw), in his obstetrics and gynecology rotation, and does not sugarcoat the occupation one bit, making it darkly amusing, and definitely frightening.
Why it Makes the List?
From how understaffed, worn out, and annoyed the medical professionals are, to the randomness of death, and how some more lives (and infants’ lives) might be conserved with some more assistance and resources, this program will make you wish to avert at its darkest minutes, make fun of its brightest, and feel so unfortunate for every single among the characters in the program, and how they keep pressing, sleep be damned.
Stream on Amazon Prime Video
Chicago Hope (1994 – 2000)

Chicago Hope
- Release Date
- September 18, 1994
- Cast
- Adam Arkin, Mark Harmon, Hector Elizondo, Rocky Carroll, Lauren Holly, Barbara Hershey, Mandy Patinkin, Carla Gugino
- Categories
- Drama
Chicago Hope was a medical drama that debuted in the exact same year as ER, and both occurred in the exact same city. This one had a various taste, as it was a personal health center, and the characters were a bit more soapy in nature, having actually exceptionally made complex individual and expert lives.
What Makes it Unfortunate?
Excellent cases, distinct discussion, extraordinary efficiencies (particularly from Mandy Patinkin, in his first regular TV role), that made audiences feel sorry for the medical professionals, and have the exact same roller rollercoaster psychological experiences as them, where every case (and episode) had extraordinary life and death circumstances in it.
The Knick (2014 – 2015)

The Knick
- Release Date
- August 8, 2014
- Cast
- Clive Owen, Andre Holland, Jeremy Bobb, Juliet Rylance, Michael Angarano, Cara Seymour, Eric Johnson
- Categories
- Drama
The Knick was among thebest TV shows set in a hospital Directed by Steven Soderbergh, and with Clive Owen as the lead, this was the distinguished television response to medical dramas, informing the story of The Knick Health Center in New York City at the start of the 20th Century.
Why it Belongs on the List
Enjoying what life and medication resembled just 120 years back is currently frightening. Doing it with an addicted physician who may be the very best in his field, even when he’s high, may even make it more difficult. Every character in the program made you fall for them, and all their arcs were simply as fantastic as they were ravaging. All those are factors for an excellent cry, as is the truth that, unfortunately, the program just lasted 2 seasons.
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Home (2004 – 2012)

House
- Release Date
- November 16, 2004
- Cast
- Hugh Laurie, Omar Epps, Robert Sean Leonard, Jesse Spencer, Peter Jacobson, Odette Annable, Charlyne Yi
- Categories
- Drama, Secret
House had an intriguing facility: what if Sherlock Holmes examined not criminal offenses, however illness, and needed to identify what was incorrect with a client? That concept and Hugh Laurie’s extraordinary efficiency as Home made the program a various sort ofgreat medical drama One where the lead was a lot more of an as * hole, and with a bit more humor as the character had plenty of himself.
Why it’s a Tearjerker
From the protagonist, who is a Vicodin addict, revealing the lots of methods a dependency can damage your life, to the cases where clients may live, however lose some part of themselves (be it actually or metaphorically), to all the supporting characters, who are not just overworked, however need to handle this employer who enjoys dispute. Every episode revealed there’s a great deal of drama taking place in a health center, which illness do not discriminate by race, gender, or age.
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St. In Other Places (1982 – 1988)

St. Elsewhere
- Release Date
- October 26, 1982
- Cast
- Howie Mandel, David Morse, Christina Pickles, Cynthia Sikes, Mark Harmon, Ed Begley Jr., Ed Flanders, Bonnie Bartlett
- Categories
- Drama
St. In Other Places was among the very best dramas on television in the ’80s; not medical dramas, simply pure dramas, with extraordinary entertainers (this was among Denzel Washington’s very first leading functions), and fantastic writing that made you take care of both medical professionals and clients.
Why it Makes the List
The program was the very first to deal with medical professionals like genuine individuals (and not superheroes) with their own dreams, trials, and adversities, while checking out all type of styles, not just medical, however likewise in society, like race, gender, and sexuality. All those active ingredients made every episode an impactful one that might break you anytime, revealing the power of a significantly composed and acted television series.
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ER (1994 – 2009)
ER altered the method medical television was shot, and how its characters were composed. It developed a brand-new period for this sort of television series, which has actually been followed by many medical dramas considering that. From the turmoil of daily life in an ER, to clients who, in just 40 minutes, made you take care of them, to medical professionals who traded their individual lives to keep assisting individuals, and falling for coworkers, ER had all of it, making 23 Emmys throughout its 15-year run.
Why it Makes the List
Clients who made a mark on their medical professionals, cases where somebody good could not be conserved, and medical professionals who passed away, be it in mishaps, cancer, or being eliminated, there was constantly drama in this Chicago health center. Just like any long-running program, lots of characters reoccured, however the fantastic ones made audiences rejoice and unfortunate for them, and their courses, making audiences remember them permanently; characters like Dr. Mark Greene (Anthony Edwards), Dr. John Carter (Noah Wyle), or Dr. Abby Lockhart (Maura Tierney), among others, remained in that classification.
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Grey’s Anatomy (2005 – Present)

Grey’s Anatomy
- Release Date
- March 27, 2005
- Cast
- Ellen Pompeo, James Pickens Jr., Chandra Wilson
- Categories
- Drama
Grey’s Anatomy informs the story of a group of interns, led by Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo), and their experiences at Seattle Grace, both expertly, and likewise in the love department. A minimum of, that’s how it began. This program is now the longest medical drama in television history, and those interns are now chiefs of departments with kids.
Why it’s a Tearjerker
Awful deaths, mishaps, preferred clients who can’t be conserved, swoon-worthy romantic relationships being broken, you call it. Whatever bad that can occur, has actually occurred in this health center, and to Meredith Grey, the most unfortunate physician who ever lived. If that wasn’t enough, the characters are well-written, making audiences fall for them, and when something bad takes place to them (it constantly does), their stories and episodes break your heart and will make you cry.
Stream on Netflix