Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Lenox Hill’ on Netflix, A Docuseries About a Busy NYC Hospital That Values The Sweet Over The Squeamish

Lenox Hill on Netflix is a docuseries that follows the doctors, surgeons, and staff of Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. Think Grey’s Anatomy as a reality show that was much more focused on being caring than crazy. The new hour-long series is an intimate and humanizing look at the daily lives of doctors, including the incredibly skilled work they do, and the patients they serve. 

LENOX HILL: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: After establishing shots of the New York City skyline, the first thing we see is a patient having her hair washed and combed in the hospital, likely just after surgery. As the blood is rinsed out, we then see a doctor pry open her eyelids to take a look at her eyes, while a group of doctors stand around her hospital bed. They then encourage the patient to give a hand squeeze as she’s just starting to come to. And if this sounds like a lot for you, trust me, I worried about the same thing. But keep watching.

The Gist: Lenox Hill is a docuseries that chronicles the ups and downs of daily doctor life: the surgeries, the diagnoses, the ultrasounds, the frequent patients, the delivering of news both good and bad. Oh, and you should know that this series wrapped production in November 2019, months before the coronavirus ravaged its way through the city.

But the focus of this series remains firmly on the humans it showcases. It’s not a show filled with surgery porn that will make you squeamish. It’s about the multitude of tasks doctors face and accomplish in a day’s work, which often goes unnoticed by patients and their loved ones who are likely trying to scoot out of the hospital as quickly as they can.

Our Take: I’m not a huge fan of medical shows but this one sucked me in, again, because it’s about the people. Watching Lenox Hill feels like spending days inside a hospital, just observing, and in a hopeful way. Not in the “stuck in the waiting room so I’m people watching until I can get the heck out of here” way. It’s perfect timing for a show like this to once again drive home what true, brilliant heroes our healthcare workers are — oh, and not to mention the fact that they are people too, that have loved ones waiting for them at home too.

The real win of this show is the multiple births shown in the first episode alone and I simply dare you not to get a big smile on your face as parents meet their babies for the first time. Of course, that joy is also balanced out with other stories happening elsewhere in the hospital that show how some doctors can be performing head surgery one minute and delivering news to loved ones in the next. There is everything from serious cancer surgeries to one very painful ingrown hair removal procedure shown, all done with a level of respect and routine. I also appreciate that this show doesn’t drown viewers in fancy medical terms they can’t understand — the doctors featured here want you to learn and see all the aspects of their job so that you have an accurate appreciation for what they’re accomplishing.

Sex and Skin: It becomes very clear very quickly that there’s nothing sexy about the important jobs that doctors do. While the first episode does deliver several births, the cameras are sure to be respectful and stay up by the new mom’s head, so you’re not getting any flashes of private parts either.

Parting Shot: The first episode ends with the doctors leaving the hospital at the end of their shift, entering back into the busy world of New York City and riding the subway home to their families. Seriously, after all we just watched them do and they don’t have luxury black cars waiting to deliver them home?

Sleeper Star: I found myself drawn to Amanda Little-Richardson, MD, Chief Resident Obstetrics and Gynecology who goes from delivering a baby in one scene to getting her very own ultrasound in the next! Her calming and pleasant demeanor and the cheery way she says Happy Birthday to seconds-old babies makes her seem like someone you’d want to find yourself with in any room, but especially in these high-pressure situations.

Most Pilot-y Line: “The lack of legacy, the nothingness of this place, is what allowed it to become everything,”  Dr. David Langer says of Lenox Hill hospital, also adding, “Now we’re saving people that never would’ve been saved,” and letting us know that the establishment is a bit of an underdog in the medical game.

Our Call: STREAM IT. It’s one thing to clap outside our windows at 7pm each night for the people busting their butts in hospitals these days, but even without the coronavirus, these individuals are changing the world. This show honors them and their hard work and you can’t help but feel it in your heart.

Watch Lenox Hill on Netflix