Lesson Plan: Teaching Medical Ethics with The Pitt’s Season 2

Hook: Teaching Medical Ethics When Students Can't Access Primary Clinical Cases

Teachers, students, and lifelong learners often face the same classroom pain points: limited access to reliable primary sources, paywalls around clinical case studies, and a shortage of accessible, engaging narratives that illuminate complex ethical debates. Television—carefully used as a classroom text—can solve all three. Season 2 of The Pitt gives educators a rare, high‑value resource: a sustained, character‑driven exploration of addiction, professional conduct, and recovery through the intertwined arcs of Dr. Langdon and Dr. Mel King. This lesson plan turns those episodes into rigorous, evidence‑driven classroom work that meets 2026 expectations for media literacy, healthcare history, and ethics instruction.

Why Use The Pitt (Season 2) for a Medical Ethics Unit in 2026?

The Pitt season 2 places a returning physician—Dr. Langdon—into an emergency department after a stint in rehab and pairs that arc with Dr. Mel King’s evolving response as a colleague and mentor. The result is a sustained dramatization of real ethical problems: confidentiality and transparency, fitness to practice, workplace stigma, pathways to recovery, and institutional responsibility. In the classroom, these scenes function like primary sources: visual testimony, scripted dialogue, and character action that students can interrogate as historical documents of contemporary healthcare culture.

“She’s a Different Doctor.” — Taylor Dearden on how Langdon’s time in rehab alters relationships and practice. (Hollywood Reporter, 2026)

Using these episodes converts entertainment into rigorous pedagogy: students learn to analyze representation, compare dramatized scenarios to historical cases, and build policy recommendations grounded in evidence. This approach aligns with 2026 trends: educators increasingly use streaming platforms with layered transcripts, AI‑assisted annotation, and digital humanities tools to unlock multimedia primary sources for classroom use.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze how television dramatizes medical ethics issues—addiction, disclosure, and professional conduct—and evaluate accuracy compared with historical and contemporary sources.
• Explain the concept of addiction stigma and its institutional effects in healthcare settings.
• Practice ethical reasoning using case framing: identify stakeholders, duties, harms, and possible policies.
• Create a short policy memo or educational campaign aimed at reducing stigma and supporting clinician recovery.
• Demonstrate media literacy by annotating scenes for rhetorical strategies, narrative framing, and sources of bias.

Standards & Alignment (Classroom‑Ready)

This lesson plan aligns to cross‑disciplinary standards commonly required in high school and undergraduate curricula: media literacy frameworks, Common Core literacy in history/social studies (close reading, evidence‑based claims), and introductory bioethics learning outcomes. For health professions programs, the unit supports competencies in professionalism, physician impairment awareness, and interprofessional communication.

Materials & Preparation

Required Materials

• Access to The Pitt Season 2 (episodes featuring Langdon’s return and Dr. Mel King’s arc). Use institutionally licensed streaming or individual accounts and follow copyright/TEACH Act guidelines for public performance.
• Transcripts or subtitles for selected scenes (2026 streaming platforms increasingly provide downloadable transcripts—use these for annotation).
• Annotation tool (Hypothesis, Kami, or Learning Management System with comment features) and AI‑assisted search (optional) to locate scenes quickly.
• Primary source readings: historical physician addiction cases (e.g., William Halsted’s late‑19th‑century addiction), contemporary journal articles on physician burnout and substance use, and organizational policies (AMA, state physician health programs).

Teacher Prep (30–60 minutes)

1. Watch the chosen episodes twice: once for narrative comprehension, once to timestamp/clip the scenes you will use.
2. Identify 3–5 short clips (3–6 minutes each) that illustrate: Langdon’s return interactions, colleagues’ responses (stigmatizing vs. supportive), and a scene where Dr. Mel King models a different professional stance.
3. Create trigger warnings and mental‑health supports: if students may be affected by addiction content, prepare opt‑out alternatives and a list of counseling resources. Consider connecting with local partnerships or campus services informed by the onsite therapist network playbooks that explored scalable support models in 2026.
4. Assemble historical and contemporary readings and prepare a short primer comparing dramatized elements to facts (1 page). Use compact distribution formats or a micro‑site for your class following a micro‑app approach if you want a rapid, shareable resource.

Lesson Sequence (2–3 Class Periods)

Day 1: Setting Context & Close Viewing (50–75 minutes)

1. Hook (10 minutes): Present a short case vignette and ask students whether returning clinicians who have undergone rehab should be allowed to resume practice. Prompt initial votes and rationale.
2. Context Mini‑Lecture (10 minutes): Brief history of physician addiction and recovery—mention historical cases like William Halsted as an early documented example—and contemporary trends in clinician wellness (early 2020s‑2025 research showing heightened burnout and attention to physician health).
3. Close Viewing (20–30 minutes): Watch a pre‑selected 6‑minute clip showing Langdon’s first shift back and Dr. Mel King’s initial response. Students annotate the transcript for language that signals judgment, empathy, or policy concerns using an annotation platform that integrates multimedia and scholarly comments.
4. Exit Ticket (5–10 minutes): Two quick questions—What is one line or action that signals stigma? What policy question does the scene raise?

Day 2: Stakeholder Analysis & Role Play (50–75 minutes)

1. Warm‑up (5 minutes): Share anonymized exit ticket responses and highlight common themes.
2. Group Work (30 minutes): Divide students into stakeholder groups—Hospital Leadership, Patient Advocacy, Colleague/Team, Physician Health Program, and Media. Each group receives a packet: scene transcript excerpt, relevant policy abstracts, and short primary sources (distributed via compact offline/backup materials for equity).
3. Role Play & Ethics Hearing (15–25 minutes): Each group delivers a 3‑minute statement and responds to 2 questions. Debrief on power dynamics and institutional constraints.

Day 3: Synthesis & Assessment (50–75 minutes)

1. Socratic Seminar (30 minutes): Use guided prompts (below) to probe systemic stigma, privacy vs. safety, and the limits of dramatized solutions.
2. Assessment Launch (15–25 minutes): Students choose between a 1,000‑word policy memo, a creative annotated video remix with evidence citations, or a short research essay comparing The Pitt’s depiction to a historical case study. Provide distribution and submission guidance informed by conversion‑first best practices for class galleries.

Discussion Prompts (Socratic Seminar)

• What responsibilities do physicians have to disclose past substance use to employers, colleagues, and patients? How does The Pitt dramatize that obligation?
• How does stigma shape institutional responses—punitive versus rehabilitative—and what consequences do those responses have for patient safety and workforce retention?
• Compare Dr. Mel King’s approach to mentorship with historical examples of professional gatekeeping. Which practices foster recovery, and which create barriers?
• How reliable is television as evidence? What should students treat as dramatization, and how do we find corroborating primary sources?

Assessment & Rubrics (Classroom‑Ready)

Option 1: Policy Memo (1,000 words)

• Criteria: Clear problem statement (10%), evidence synthesis from media and primary sources (30%), stakeholder‑sensitive recommendations (30%), implementation steps and evaluation metrics (20%), citation quality (10%).

Option 2: Annotated Video Remix

• Criteria: Selection of 3‑5 clips (legal compliance required), annotations linking scene elements to scholarship (40%), critical reflection and counter‑examples (30%), production quality and accessibility (20%), bibliography (10%).

Option 3: Comparative Research Essay

• Criteria: Thesis clarity (15%), use of primary historical cases (25%), engagement with contemporary literature on clinician substance use (25%), analysis of The Pitt as source (20%), writing quality and citations (15%).

Practical, Actionable Teaching Tips

• Clip Legally: Use short clips under fair use for criticism/commentary, but prefer institutional streaming licenses or obtain permission for public exhibition. The TEACH Act and campus media services can help navigate permissions.
• Use Transcripts for Equity: Provide transcripts and captions to support students with hearing differences and to enable rapid textual annotations. See accessibility playbooks like designing inclusive events for accessibility checklists.
• Scaffold Historical Context: Pair scenes with concise primary source packets—historic physician case files, policy statements, or contemporary studies—so students can fact‑check dramatization. If you need a rapid packet builder, consider a micro‑app template to distribute materials (micro‑app templates).
• Trigger & Support Plan: Start with trigger warnings and make opt‑out assignments available. Post a curated list of counseling resources and hotlines prominently on the syllabus and coordinate with campus mental‑health teams informed by recent pilots of onsite therapist networks.
• Leverage 2026 Tools: Use AI tools for searchable transcripts, but verify any AI summaries against the original transcript—see work on Perceptual AI and its limits. In 2025–2026, institutions adopted annotation platforms that integrate multimedia and scholarly comments; use these to model academic discourse.

Contextualizing the Fiction: Medical History & Contemporary Policy

Television can mirror, distort, and illuminate healthcare culture. Pair The Pitt’s storylines with documented historical cases—William Halsted’s documented addiction and professional recovery efforts show how addiction has long intersected with medical training—and with current policies: most U.S. states have physician health programs that balance monitoring with rehabilitation. In class, ask students to map fictional actions (e.g., reassignment to triage, public shaming) onto real policy frameworks and to consider alternatives grounded in evidence from recovery science. If you need a quick class distribution workflow, a 7‑day micro‑app approach can help you get a shareable class site up fast.

2026 Trends & What They Mean for This Unit

• Streaming Accessibility: By 2026, many educational platforms and university libraries negotiated improved streaming access and searchable transcripts for classroom use, making audiovisual primary sources easier to integrate. See why publishers are thinking like studios in From Media Brand to Studio.
• AI‑Enhanced Annotation: AI tools that produce timestamped summaries and keyword searches have reduced prep time for teachers—use them to locate key exchanges but always cross‑check for hallucinations. (Related research in Perceptual AI.)
• Increased Emphasis on Clinician Well‑Being: Curricular reforms through the mid‑2020s have prompted more explicit ethics modules on clinician impairment, destigmatization, and institutional responsibility—this unit dovetails with those reforms.
• Television as Text Pedagogy: Media literacy frameworks have matured: educators now treat scripted TV as a legitimate interdisciplinary primary source, combining rhetorical analysis with historical comparison and policy application. For program-level changes and building production capacity, see publisher playbooks.

Further Reading & Primary Sources

• Hollywood Reporter, coverage of The Pitt season 2 and actor comments (use for classroom context and attribution).
• Historical: Biographies and primary documents related to William Stewart Halsted’s late‑19th‑century addiction and professional rehabilitation.
• Contemporary research: Recent systematic reviews (2020–2024) on physician burnout, substance use, and recovery programs; state physician health program descriptions.
• Ethics texts: Selected chapters from contemporary medical ethics anthologies on confidentiality, professional fitness, and restorative justice in medicine.

Common Challenges & Instructor FAQs

Q: What if students conflate drama with empirical truth?

A: Make source triangulation a graded habit. Require at least two academic or archival sources for every claim made about real‑world policy. Use the transcript as a primary source and demand explicit citation for what is dramatized vs. what is documented historically.

Q: How do I handle strong emotional reactions?

A: Prepare an opt‑out alternative (e.g., reading‑based assignment) and bring a counselor or school mental‑health rep for a class debrief when possible. Normalize emotional responses as part of ethical reflection and provide stabilization resources. See inclusive event design resources at Designing Inclusive In‑Person Events.

Q: Can this unit be adapted for sciences or pre‑med programs?

A: Yes. Focus assessment on policy memos and institutional systems analysis. Add technical readings on medication‑assisted treatment and clinician monitoring for pre‑med students. Package and distribute materials quickly with a micro‑app template if needed.

Classroom‑Ready Materials You Can Download or Copy

• One‑page teacher primer summarizing scenes and timestamps (editable).
• Three short transcript excerpts with guided annotation prompts.
• Rubric templates for the policy memo, annotated remix, and comparative essay.
• Student packet: primary source excerpts and a short bibliography (distributable as an offline bundle).

Closing: Why This Unit Matters Now

As institutions in 2026 double down on mental‑health supports and media literacy, this unit offers a timely bridge between cultural narratives and professional practice. The Pitt’s Season 2 provides emotionally resonant material while inviting rigorous, evidence‑based inquiry into how healthcare systems treat clinicians who struggle. When students learn to read television as a historical and ethical text, they gain critical tools for advocacy, policy design, and compassionate practice.

Call to Action: Download the printable lesson pack, try the two‑day module in your next class, and share student projects with our educator community to be featured in our 2026 curriculum spotlight. Want a ready‑made rubric or transcript excerpts tailored to your class level? Contact us for a customizable packet and workshop.