The Skeptical Samurai’s Guide to the Movies: Patch Adams
- Hunter Patch Adams Corinne Fisher
- Patch Adams Poem To Corinne
- Patch Adams Corinne Fisher
- Patch Adams Letter To Corinne
Time for another instalment of…
The Skeptical Samurai’s Guide to the Movies!
This week’s movie: Patch Adams
- Patch Adams with Syrian refugees and a fellow clown worker inside a refugee camp/ Photo Credit: Nora Rowley. During this time, Patch has traveled abroad 250-300 days a year — for over 28 years — and hasn’t been home for longer than 2 weeks in a row.
- Dec 17, 2018 Patch Adams is a 1998 comedy-drama film, directed by Tom Shadyac and based on Hunter 'Patch' Adams' life story and the book Gesundheit: Good Health is a Laughing Matter by Adams and Maureen Mylander. It stars Robin Williams and Phillip Seymour-Hoffman.
- Aug 13, 2015 Patch Adams is a person who believes a patient’s emotion is just as important when treating them. Patch believes that all of us are dying and that we need to improve health overall, the idea that it is important to improve quality of life not just death. Patch’s beliefs are very different from those we learned in class that included Western.
Apr 05, 2013 Another beautiful sonnet by another wonderful poet was read to us in the film Patch Adams, the true-story of Dr. Hunter 'Patch' Adams. In this scene, Patch, a patient-turned-medical student is seen mourning the death of this girlfriend. In her honour, Patch recites part of Pablo Neruda's Sonnet XVII (Sometimes referred to by it's first.
Hunter “Patch” Adams is an American physician known for his alternative approach to “traditional” medicine.
I know what you are thinking…did the Skeptical Samurai just endorse an “alternative medicine” healthcare practitioner!? Fear not dear reader, as this is not the case. Patch’s “alternative” approach to medicine is largely based in his use of humour and clowning in the clinical setting, as well as the concept of free + equal healthcare for all (a concept that many of us here in Canada, take for granted, as individuals living in other parts of the world, such as the USA, do not have access to free healthcare).
In 1998 a movie was made about Patch Adams (starting Robin Williams as Patch), titled…Patch Adams.
According to Patch he had attempt to persuade the powers that be to name the film Gesundheit! (after his planned free hospital/clinic) but this idea was rejected for a variety of different reasons.
I have read both of Patch’s books and had the absolute pleasure of meeting him in person at one of his conferences/seminars a number of years ago. At this conference/seminar Patch discussed many different topics, including a short FAQ regarding the movie “Patch Adams”. The information from that conference/seminar along with my own research serves as the “reality” some of the “movie fiction” put forth by the makers of the film.
Movie: Patch, as an adult in his late 30’s to early 40’s, had a nervous breakdown and was contemplating suicide. It was at this point that Patch checked himself into a psychiatric hospital for assessment and treatment.
Reality: Patch did in fact check himself into a psychiatric hospital, but he was actually around 17 when this happened. At the conference/seminar I attended, Patch stated that Robin Williams was in his 40’s when he did the movie, so it was a bit difficult to reverse age Mr. Williams into a 17 year old. Consequently, the writers of the movie simply changed the sequence of events so that Patch was in his late teens when he admitted himself to the psychiatric hospital.
Movie: Patch’s girlfriend (Corinne Fisher played by actress Monica Potter) was murdered by a psychiatric patient.
Reality: Where to start with this one!?
In reality, Corinne did not exist. The character Corinne was loosely based on Patch’s 1st wife Lynda, who Patch did meet while he was in medical school (the scene with the room full of balloons is based on a real life date that Patch set up for himself and Lynda), but their relationship was quite different that that portrayed in the film.
This situation of the psychiatric patient killing Patch’s girlfriend was actually based on a real event. The main difference was that the person killed was Patch’s MALE best friend! Patch briefly discussed this topic at the conference/seminar I attended, and mentioned that if his friend (sadly the name of Patch’s friend escapes me) was still alive he would have gotten quite a laugh out of the fact that his character had been “adapted” to film to be Patch’s female love interest!
Movie: Patch (real name, Hunter) was given the nickname “Patch” by a fellow patient at the psychiatric hospital that he befriends after patching his faulty coffee cup.
Reality: Patch was in fact given this nickname by a fellow patient at the psychiatric hospital that he befriended. However, Patch has explained that the scene did not play out as it did in the movie. Patch was given the nickname the patient that he befriended felt that Patch “patched up” the loneliness in his life, hence the name Patch.
Movie: At the end of the movie a message is displayed across the screen that implies that Patch’s Gesundheit! Institute/Hospital has already been finished, and is currently in full swing.
Reality: In reality the hospital is still under construction! A more accurate version of the progress of the Gesundheit! Institute is as follows (taken from Patch Adams/The Gesundheit Institute Homepage):
Phase I: A Hospital as Home • 1971–1983
The Gesundheit Institute began as a group of twenty friends, including three doctors, who moved into a six-bedroom home and called it a free hospital. The hospital was open 24 hours a day and 7 days a week for all manner of medical problems from birth to death. 500-1000 patients were seen each month, with 5-50 overnight guests a night. Though staff had to work outside jobs in order to support themselves and their families, for the first 9 years none of the staff left. Over its 12-year history, 15,000 patients were seen. These years provided a “proof of concept,” affirming the direction of building a full-scale, rural hospital to serve as a place of service and a model of care.
Phase II: Building on the Land • 1981–1998
As a future hospital site, Gesundheit purchased 321 acres in Pocahontas County, West Virginia with the help of donations. Infrastructure construction included building a 3-story woodshop, a domed “Dacha” for housing up to 8 staff members, a Chrysalis-shaped classroom, a lake, gardens, and farmhouse expansion.
Phase III: The Movie and Global Outreach • 1999–2008
In 1998, Universal Studios released the movie “Patch Adams” starring Robin Williams, based on Patch Adams’s book Gesundheit. At the end of the film, Universal Studios inserted the inaccurate statement that Gesundheit had already built its free hospital. While this false claim hindered Gesundheit’s ability to fundraise for the free hospital, the movie itself raised visibility and helped launch a decade of teaching and Global Outreach.
Phases IV and V: Building the Teaching Center and Clinic • 2007–2011
Dr. Patch Adams and members of the Gesundheit Institute have lectured at medical and nursing schools in over 65 countries and on five continents, reaching approximately 150,000 attendees per year. Over 1300 people per year participate in Gesundheit’s medical student electives, volunteer programs, alternative spring breaks, health care system design intensives, humanitarian clown trips, and health justice gatherings.
In July of 2007, The Gesundheit Board launched a campaign to build the Patch Adams Teaching Center and Clinic, which will teach health care design and provide a positive global model of health care delivery on our land in Pocahontas County, West Virginia.
Frequently Asked Question After Watching the Movie: How much money did Robin Williams make for his portrayal of Patch Adams, and more importantly how much did he donate to Patch and the Gesundheit! Institute?
Reality: Robin Williams made approximately 21 million dollars for his portrayal of Patch Adams.
Regarding the question of how much money Mr. Williams donated to the Gesundheit! Institute, Patch addressed this question at the conference/seminar I attended a number of years ago. Patch stated that Mr. Williams did not contribute a single dollar to the Gesundheit! Institute or to Patch’s cause…
And to date (to the best of my knowledge/research), Mr. Williams has still not contributed a single dollar to Patch’s cause…
For more information about Dr. Hunter “Patch” Adams, please visit his website:
This has been the Skeptical Samurai
Working to serve through the process of inquiry
Goodreads helps you follow your favorite authors. Be the first to learn about new releases!
Patch Adams quotes Showing 1-8 of 8
Hunter Patch Adams Corinne Fisher
“When I was a girl I would look out my bedroom window at the caterpillars; I envied them so much. No matter what they were before, no matter what happened to them, they could just hide away and turn into these beautiful creatures that could fly away completely untouched.”
―
―
tags: butterflies, caterpillars, sad, sadness, sorrow
“Remember laughing? Laughter enhances the blood flow to the body’s extremities and improves cardiovascular function. Laughter releases endorphins and other natural mood elevating and pain-killing chemicals, improves the transfer of oxygen and nutrients to internal organs.
Laughter boosts the immune system and helps the body fight off disease, cancer cells as well as viral, bacterial and other infections. Being happy is the best cure of all diseases!”
―
Laughter boosts the immune system and helps the body fight off disease, cancer cells as well as viral, bacterial and other infections. Being happy is the best cure of all diseases!”
―
“The purpose of a doctor or any human in general should not be to simply delay the death of the patient, but to increase the person's quality of life. ”
―
―
“The most radical act anyone can commit is to be happy.”
―
―
“Death is not the enemy sir, Indifference is!
You treat a disease, you win, you lose.
You treat a person, I guarantee you, you'll win, no matter what the outcome. Is this interesting?”
―
You treat a disease, you win, you lose.
You treat a person, I guarantee you, you'll win, no matter what the outcome. Is this interesting?”
―
“Excellence in health means devoting your life to ending poverty.”
―
―
“Everyone has creative potential. Creativity involves using your imagination and inventiveness. Your unique expression of yourself is your creativity..Creativity can be magic when visiting people who are ill.”
―
―
“At the age of 18, I made up my mind to never have another bad day in my life. I dove into a endless sea of gratitude from which I've never emerged.”
―
―
All Quotes | Add A Quote
Patch Adams Poem To Corinne
Gesundheit!
490 ratings
490 ratings
House Call
130 ratings
130 ratings
Patch Adams Corinne Fisher
Salute!
10 ratings
10 ratings
Letters to Patch
3 ratings
3 ratings