A major charity group has criticized Emmerdale and Coronation Street for misleading transplant storylines. The charity has written an open letter expressing concerns that soaps are misrepresenting realities. According to them, both Joe and Carla’s transplant stories need to be changed. Read more to learn about their concerns!
Emmerdale Faces Criticism: Joe’s Kidney Crisis Is Misleading!
Emmerdale’s storyline follows Joe’s battle with a chronic kidney disease (CKD). Desperate for a transplant, he has been scheming with Dr. Crowley. He even drugged Noah, hoping he would be a potential donor, but his plan failed. Now, Caleb is a match, and Joe is planning to kidnap him for an illegal transplant.
The country’s leading charity – Kidney Research UK has written an open letter to two soaps. Coming to Emmerdale, the charity’s executive director Lucy Sreeves said that depicting theft of organs is not only illegal and dangerous but also undermine public trust in the transplant system. At a time when the UK needs more kidney donors as six people die every week in the UK waiting for a kidney transplant, such kind of storylines misguide people.
Coronation Street Receives Criticism, EastEnders Receives Appreciation!
Meanwhile Coronation Street has been portraying a story where Carla Connor who had a kidney transplant in 2018 developed sepsis. After a short period of dialysis at home, she received a transplant from Bob.
Sreeves said that the soap has completely disappointed them by hiding the realities of the real world – waiting lines, compatibility testing, emotional battles of patients during the process. This has caused frustration among the patients who experience uncertainty and medical complications as all these issues were sidelined.
On the other hand, Sreeves appreciated East Enders storyline. Nugget Gulati’s kidney storyline portrayed the real picture of dialysis and its impact on day-to-day life. But he also mentioned that there was still a room for improvement. Meanwhile, the charity has urged the soap writers and producers to connect with real medical experts, patients, researchers to portray their storylines accurately. Fans are eager – Will the soaps listen, or will they keep running the show as it is? Stay tuned to Soap Opera Daily for more soap updates!
