'The Pitt' Doctors I Most Want Treating Me, Ranked | Season 1, Episodes 6-10
An updated ranking for TV's most accurate hospital drama
Spoiler warning for episodes 6-10 of The Pitt on Max.
Much like Dr. Robby showing up for work on the anniversary of Dr. Adamson’s death, I am back for more!
Week after week I continue to be absolutely wowed by The Pitt. The pacing is impeccable, the drama is centered on the various treatments and the chaotic nature of the emergency center, and the characters are completely grounded in reality. I’m seriously tempted to go back after the season is over to spend an entire day binging the full 15-hour spectacle in real time1.
For the first five episodes of the series I decided to rank my Top Seven doctors from the show that I wanted treating me should I ever find myself in an emergency center.
'The Pitt' Doctors I Most Want Treating Me, Ranked | Season 1, Episodes 1-5
Spoiler warning for episodes 1-5 of The Pitt on Max.
As of this post’s publishing, the next five episodes of The Pitt have dropped on Max. That means we’re two-thirds of the way through the season. And THAT means we’ve seen plenty from all of our doctors to determine who is actually the best at their job. Five additional episodes mean countless more cases to evaluate which doctor I want treating me as soon as I’m seen (after an eight hour wait). And believe me, the list has changed!
There are a total of 16 doctors, residents, interns, and medical students that we are currently following on shift. For this experiment I’m going to continue to keep it to my top seven choices.
First, let’s talk about who fell off the list. Dropping off from the seventh position is Dr. Frank Langdon — who I actually started to enjoy over the past five episodes. He is consistent with his medical acumen, and showed great promise as a future attending physician. I even started to enjoy his antagonistic repartee with Dr. Garcia. And then Langdon had to go and unfairly lose his shit on Dr. Santos. Oh, and also he’s stealing painkillers. What a fall from grace.
Finally there’s Dr. Yolanda Garcia, the resident surgeon who went from my Top Four to not even making the list this go-round. This drop mainly has to do with Dr. Garcia’s lack of meaningful screen time. But also, the woman placed her faith in Dr. Santos and then took a scalpel to the foot! Not her finest moment.
Without further ado, here is my revised Top 7 ranking for which physician I want treating me should I ever find myself in a crowded trauma hospital waiting room in Pittsburgh.
7) Nurse Dana Evans
Previous Rank: Did Not Rank
Change: -
Making her debut in the Top Seven is Nurse Dana, the central brain in the neural network that is the emergency center. She is completely on top of every patient, every room, every treatment, every square inch of the emergency room. I honestly don’t know how she does this job. It’s takes a very special person to handle that type of stress management, and Dana is that damn special. And what does she get for her troubles? A sucker punch to the eye. Ahmed better find Doug Driscoll before I do, because I would make that racist pay.
6) Dr. McKay
Previous Rank: Did Not Rank
Change: -
Another new addition to the Top Seven is Dr. McKay — an older second-year resident who wants to make her son proud. Dr. McKay has mostly spent time in triage during this shift teaching Javadi the interpersonal nuances of being a doctor. So far she’s helped an unhoused woman and her kids, and she and Dana did their best to help a young woman feared to be a victim of sex trafficking. But the big decision she made was to call the police on the teenage boy we discovered made a list of girls he wanted to “eliminate”. She made the right call even when Dr. Robby couldn’t. And for that she has my respect.
5) Dr. Trinity Santos
Previous Rank: 6
Change: 1 ⬆️
Dr. Santos has been taking a lot of shit from The Pitt watchers I’ve seen online. While I understood the aversion to her arrogant nature, I for one have been a fan! I like her drive and her willingness to tackle new skills in this learning environment. Sure, she’s a little but of a bully, but you can teach people those interpersonal skills2! More importantly, we’ve learned a lot about Dr. Santos in these last five episodes. For one, we see her visceral reaction to learning one of her patients may be abusing his young daughter. She even takes the next step to verbally threaten the man while hinting at her own abuse. Absolutely devastating.
Then there’s Episode 10, where Dr. Santos’s issues with Dr. Langdon finally come to a head. Trinity had some mishaps earlier in the season, which she attributed to Dr. Langdon’s mishandling of painkillers. She seemed to have a strange vendetta in order to make herself feel better about her mistakes. Things finally blew up when Trinity made an executive decision and saved a woman’s life as she was having a seizure. Instead of praise, Langdon storms in and loudly berates her in front of everyone — including Dr. Robby. But it’s Dr. Santos who has the last laugh as she finally comes clean to Dr. Robby about her suspicions of Dr. Langdon. And what do we discover — Trinity was right! Langdon has been stealing painkillers for his back. Vindication! I fear this means Dr. Santos is on a rocket ship straight to the top of these rankings!
4) Dr. Heather Collins
Previous Rank: 3
Change: 1 ⬇️
Oh, Dr. Collins. This poor woman has been through so much. First and foremost, she is excellent at her job. She’s intelligent, assured, and caring — everything you could want in a doctor. But the last five episodes have mainly been defined by her pregnancy. We see Dr. Collins try to act as mediator between an overbearing mother and her teenage daughter who wants an abortion. This leads Dr. Collins to physically get in between squabbling sisters and get shoved in the process. Shortly after, Dr. Collins grabs her stomach in pain and retreats to the restroom where unfortunately we see her underwear pooled with blood from a miscarriage. Heartbreaking and gut-wrenching. I’m hoping for nothing but good things for Dr. Collins in the final five episodes. Prayer circle activate!
3) Dr. Melissa King
Previous Rank: 5
Change: 2 ⬆️
This may be my favorite production still in the history of media. Dr. King makes the biggest jump of anyone else on this list, all the way to the number three slot. And that is mainly due to her empathetic nature. We see how distraught Mel gets when she believes a woman has abandoned her elderly mother. We also see how she expertly handles a young man with autism who has a sprained ankle, even impressing Dr. Langdon in the process. Even though she has shown time and time again during this shift that she is an excellent doctor, she still worries that she may not have the “special sauce” to be a doctor. But the truth is she has it in spades. I am in no place to diagnose anyone, but it seems Mel may also be on the spectrum like her sister — which may explain why she is so good at removing tiny pieces of gravel from a man’s leg. I see a lot of myself in Dr. King, which may be why I love her so much. Look at that photo above again and tell me you don’t love that person!
2) Dr. Michael "Robby" Robinavitch
Previous Rank: 1
Change: 1 ⬇️
In an absolute shocker (to me, at least) Dr. Robby actually takes a fall on our list down to the number two position. Let’s start with the positives. In one of my favorite moments of the series, we meet a patient who helped found the Freedom House Ambulance Service — a real emergency medical service founded and staffed entirely by Black Americans. I loved learning about this historical group that set the standard for emergency care nationally and internationally. Dr. Robby takes it upon himself to make sure his staff listen to this man’s stories, and know how important the Black community in Pittsburgh was to the world’s emergency services that they utilize every day.
We also see Robby finally get through to the parents of the young man who became brain dead, allowing their son to continue as an organ donor and earning he and them an Honor Walk. This was incredibly moving, and a great reminder to sign up as an organ donor! Then there’s also Dr. Robby undertaking the horrible task of rallying his staff after the drowning death of a 6-year-old girl. I know I cry easy, but this show has left me sopping with tears on multiple occasions, and it’s all so worth it.
Unfortunately, there’s a reason that Robby fell from the top spot, and for me that was his decision to delay calling the police on David, the teenage boy with a kill list. His main defense in multiple episodes was that he didn’t want, “to ruin a young man’s life”. Absolutely unacceptable Robby. Prioritizing the future of a young man over the literal lives of multiple young girls. It killed me every time he tried to defend his decision, and I’m happy he finally came around and realized he was wrong.
1) Dr. Samira Mohan
Previous Rank: 2
Change: 1 ⬆️
AND NEWWWWWW! Our new number one is Dr. Mohan. “Slo Mo, no mo’!” She has been killing it this shift, with a ton of surprise diagnoses and unrivaled patient care. Dr. Robby has repeatedly criticized Dr. Mohan for taking too long with patients, and for believing a simple case is way more complicated than it really is. Well, Robby, looks like you still have a lot to learn!
A great example of this is how Dr. Mohan handles a patient believed to be suffering from schizophrenia, only to discover that she’s an influencer who has mercury poisoning from using an unregulated face cream. Dr. Robby yells at Samira for wasting time on pointless tests, but Dr. Mohan’s “special sauce” is trusting her gut and boy does it pay off. This is the doctor I need; someone who is going to stop at nothing to discover what’s causing my symptoms and cares for me as person. May we all find the Dr. Mohan in our lives. Oh, and Medicare For All!
If I end up doing this please call and check in because YEESH!
Narrator: You can’t actually teach people those interpersonal skills.