Elite team brings cutting edge technology to ordinary people

LOS ANGELES -- With the high-tech advances and intense specialization of modern medicine, what many patients need is someone to advise and guide them toward the best treatment and the best possible outcome.

On Monday, March 6, ABC tackles these issues with a new documentary series called "Miracle Workers," which spotlights ordinary folk overcoming the medical odds with the consultation of an elite team of doctors and nurses.

It's the creation of production company Renegade 83 Entertainment, and executive producers are David Garfinkle and Jay Renfroe of Renegade, along with Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey of DreamWorks Television.

In each episode, lead doctors Redmond Burke, a pediatric cardiovascular surgeon from Florida, and Billy Cohn, a pioneering cardiothoracic surgeon from Texas, and registered nurses Janna Bullock and Tamara Houston guide patients through the process of finding and implementing cutting-edge medical procedures.

"They get through the doctor-speak," Renfroe says. "They were great with the patients as they were meeting with the specialists to help them navigate their way through the technical language."

Burke was very concerned about the ethics of the whole enterprise, but says, "I rarely encountered a situation where I felt uncomfortable about what was happening. We were pretty rigorous with the producers about what was ethical and what wasn't."

Strict medical ethics aside, Burke was also concerned about the human cost. "Were we taking advantage of these families, exploiting their ordeals in front of a voyeuristic audience?" he says. "That worried me. I certainly didn't want to do that. But the strong impression I got from every family that I talked to was that they were empowered from being able to tell their stories.

"They were all facing a beast that had overwhelmed them. They felt powerless against it, and this was a way for them to swing back and take a little control over what was happening to them. The way they were taking control was they were going to help someone else who might be suffering from the same affliction. That was the universal feeling."

"The truth is," Garfinkle says, "it's going to happen to everybody, because eventually someone in your family's going to get sick."

Along with the human element, "Miracle Workers" showcases the latest in medical technology.

"There have been so many breakthroughs in the last three to five years," Garfinkle says. "If you go to your doctor, he might not be aware of what's going on in these other areas.

"Our job was to locate these state-of-the-art doctors and procedures and try to hook up these families with them."

Burke also hopes to spark a possible career choice. "What I thought I would potentially be able to do is inspire some other young person out there who might find out that medicine is their one true thing, just like I found out it was my one true thing."