“The Pitt,” HBO Max’s medical drama juggernaut, is back for its second season, and, this time, fireworks are in the sky and fireworks victims are in the ER.
The entirety of the hit medical procedural’s sophomore season is set during a single hectic shift for the show’s fictional Pittsburgh hospital on the Fourth of July. “The Pitt,” which has been praised for its realistic depiction of health care work, could have taken place on any day, so why Independence Day?
As it turns out, the Fourth of July is one of the single-most dangerous and hectic days for Americans and American hospitals, said Leah Prasse, who has 26 years of experience as a nurse and works as a visiting assistant clinical professor at Northeastern University’s Charlotte campus, which focuses on health care.
“Anything that mixes alcohol and explosives turns into a recipe for disaster,” Prasse said.
Most holidays tend to be particularly busy times for emergency rooms in the U.S., with staffing already at much lower levels than other parts of the year, Prasse explained. But the Fourth of July is particularly deadly. An average of more than 45,000 people visit emergency rooms in the U.S. on July 4 and 5, accounting for the highest daily numbers in the entire year, according to the Pew Research Center. The average daily numbers for the summer months are around 40,700.
