These Are the Best Medical Shows on Netflix

Ever since the days of M*A*S*H and St. Elsewhere, medical-themed TV shows, be they drama or dramedy, have been a staple of pop-culture, and Netflix even has quite a few that you can stream.

One of the first ever medical dramas on TV was Ben Casey, which ran on ABC from 1961 to 1966.

Later, shows like General Hospital, Medical Center, and Quincy, M.E. would enter the arena and garner a significant positive response from viewers.

Moving into the 1980s, series like the aforementioned St. Elsewhere and Doogie Howser, M.D. debuted and were also met with a strong showing of enjoyment by TV watchers.

Not long after, ER would make its way to television and pretty much seal itself in as the greatest medical drama of all-time.

Now if you’re looking for classics like ER, even or House, you’ll, unfortunately, have to find those another way as they are not available on the streaming giant.

There are, however, a number of other great medical shows available on Netflix and we’ve listed a handful of them for you below.

Grey’s Anatomy

Seasons Available to Stream: 13 

Starring: Ellen Pompeo, Sandra Oh, Katherine Heigl, Justin Chambers, T. R. Knight, Chandra Wilson, Patrick Dempsey, Sara Ramirez, Eric Dane, Chyler Leigh, and Jesse Williams.

This medical drama focuses on a group of doctors at a Seattle hospital, including many who began their medical careers there as interns. One of the doctors (and the show’s namesake) is Meredith Grey. She is at the center of the action while a cast of other characters, all with their own personal issues and challenges, revolved around her.

Currently, ER holds the record for longest-running primetime medical drama, with 15 total seasons. Grey’s Anatomy, however, is quickly creeping up on it, as the series is currently in its 14th season. In just a few years, it could steal that title that ER has held for almost a decade.

Royal Pains

Seasons Available to Stream: Eight

Starring: Mark Feuerstein, Paulo Costanzo, Jill Flint, Reshma Shetty, Brooke D’Orsay, Campbell Scott, and Ben Shenkman

Hank Lawson, a young emergency room doctor, moves to the Hamptons and reluctantly becomes “doctor for hire” to the wealthy after being wrongly blamed for an important patient’s death. Lawson eventually finds himself caught between doing well for himself and doing good deeds for others when the head of the local hospital asks him to treat the less fortunate citizens of the town.

Royal Pains began airing on the USA Network in June of 2009 and just had its series finale last year in July of 2016. It’s eight season run spanned over 100 episodes that you can binge right now on Netflix.

Nurse Jackie

Seasons Available to Stream: Seven

Starring: Edie Falco, Eve Best, Merritt Wever, Haaz Sleiman, Paul Schulze, Peter Facinelli, and Morris Chestnut.

Jackie Peyton is an ER nurse who does everything possible to provide her patients with the best care possible. However, she’s stuck doing while also navigating the terrain of a crumbling health-care system. Additionally, Jackie has a secret that becomes harder to hide from people… she gets through her high-stress shifts at a New York hospital by taking Vicodin and Adderall.

Nurse Jackie ran for a total of 80 episodes between 2009 and 2015 on Showtime. The show was also very controversial, as the behavior of the main character was seen by many Nurse Associations as detrimental to the public’s view of nurses in general.

You can currently stream the the entire series on Netflix.

The Night Shift

Seasons Available to Stream: Three

Starring: Eoin Macken, Jill Flint, Ken Leung, Brendan Fehr, Robert Bailey, Jr., and Scott Wolf.

T.C. Callahan, a night-shift doctor at San Antonio Memorial, struggles with balancing saving lives and running a hospital, which turns out to be a much harder reality than he thought. Joining Callahan as he faces the oftentimes dangerous task of running an emergency room are his best friend and former Army medic, Drew; lead physician — and T.C.’s ex-girlfriend — Jordan; and the surgical resident, Paul.

The difficulties of the job reveal some personal weaknesses, but their shared motivation for healing patients bonds them into a close-knit group.

The Night Shift debuted on May 27th, 2014. It got four seasons under its belt before being canceled. The fourth season finale aired on August 31 of 2017. If you’re so inclined, you can stream the first three seasons on Netflix right now.

Emily Owens M.D.

Seasons Available to Stream: One

Starring: Mamie Gummer, Justin Hartley, Aja Naomi King, Kelly McCreary, Michael Rady, and Necar Zadegan.

This show followed the life of Emily Owens, who finally feels like she’s reached official adulthood. She’s put her geeky high school days as a girl in flop-sweats behind her, and she’s even finally graduated from medical school and begun an internship at Denver Memorial Hospital. Coincidentally, her med-school crush Will Collins has also turned up as an intern in the same hospital, and this will most assuredly complicate things for Emily.

One very interesting fact about the show is that the lead actress, Mamie Gummer, is actually the second-oldest child of Hollywood icon Meryl Streep.

Emily Owens M.D. only made it through one 13 episode season on the CW, but if you work your way through all the other great medical shows on our list, you should definitely line this one up in your Netflix queue as well.

Emergency

Seasons Available to Stream: One

Not every great medical show on Netflix is scripted. If reality-based medical drama is more your speed, then the streaming giant offers numerous shows in that genre.

One of the more popular real-life medical series on Netflix is Emergency, which focuses on two of the busiest hospitals in Canada.

“Follow along with the patients, their families, and hospital staff as they navigate through their journey in intimate interviews and real on the scene footage. Follow along with award winning musician and author, Jann Arden, as the interpersonal stories of the Emergency Room come together.”

Emergency Down Under

Seasons Available to Stream: One

Emergency Down Under is not necessarily a spin-off of Emergency, but it is very similar.

Rather than following the lives of direct hospital staff, Emergency Down Under follows the lives of emergency response crews in Australia, which more than occasionally lands them in a hospital or two.

You can watch all the nail-biting action on Netflix.

The Ugly Face of Beauty.

Seasons Available to Stream: One

In this docuseries, experts in plastic surgery explore the high cost of cheap procedures.

Many real-life victims of botched cosmetic surgeries bravely expose their scars to the audience in the hopes of educating those watching on the dangers of opting for low-cost operations over seeking out qualified physicians.

Extremis

Seasons Available to Stream: One

Technically speaking, Extremis is not a “TV series.” It is more of a documentary short.

It is incredibly moving however, as it revolves around “the wrenching emotions that accompany end-of-life decisions” while “doctors, patients and families in a hospital ICU face harrowing choices.”

Interestingly, Extremis was nominated for an Oscar, and won the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival award for Best Documentary Short.

It’s now streaming on Netflix.