Doctor Doo-a-lot
Dr Cathy is dishing out a medical helping hand as the lead professional in new local reality series Outpatients.
Outpatients Season 1 Wednesdays (from 1 August) FOXLife (*126) 19:10
If you’re looking for a fairytale ending like in medical reality show Botched (2014- current), you’ve come to the wrong place with Outpatients (2018- current). “We don’t have those before-and-after scenes where the patient’s medical botches are fixed like magic and they’re suddenly perfect,” explains Joburg-based Doctor Cathy Davies. “We do subtle medical corrective procedures to give people their confidence back.”
WORKING WOMAN
Dr Cathy, who is a general practitioner with “a special interest in aesthetics” (that’s the medical terminology), says that unlike other shows, Outpatients is focused on the patients and their stories. “This isn’t Doctor 90210 (20042008), which follows the doctors’ lives in and out of the operating theatres. I’m a working mom to three boys. You will see me doing daily activities sure, but Outpatients is about our patients. Let’s be realistic: you’ll see me without my hair done, without my nails done. Glam isn’t what we are about.”
Because Dr Cathy doesn’t specialise in plastic surgery and specific medical areas, she needs help from specialists and working alongside other doctors is something she enjoys. “I love collaborating when it means helping patients. There is a lot that I can do, like ‘simple’ cosmetic procedure Botox, but there are certain cases where I get help from specialists in that field. You are always learning as a doctor and who better to gain knowledge from than a peer who focuses on that work?”
NO PROBLEM TOO SMALL
While Doctor 90210 and Botched see the doctors enhancing their patients’ appearances, nipping and tucking, as well as fixing badly done procedures from other surgeons, Outpatients helps ordinary people in unfortunate medical situations. “We have one lady whose boyfriend attacked her with acid, there is a child who was attacked by a lion and one patient came to us with motor neuron disease,” explains Dr Cathy. “We try to help them lead normal lives again to the best of our abilities and their conditions.” As for her biggest problem, it’s that “we as South Africans tend to leave things too late. There’s almost a stigma attached to seeing a doctor, there are transport restrictions, lack of access to doctors – we just wait until it’s horribly late to present conditions to doctors.”