Production Team of "Doctor Cha" Responds To Criticism Faced for Its Portrayal of Crohn's Disease

Doctor Cha has recently come under criticism for the portrayal of Crohn's disease in its 7th episode. Reportedly, a total of 43 complaints were filed with the Korea Communications Standards Commission regarding certain scenes pertaining to the disease, as they were seen as stigmatizing and misleading.

In response to the criticism, the production team of the K-drama issued a statement which reads as follows: 

"We are the production team of JTBC's Doctor Cha.

We would like to express our gratitude to all the viewers who have been watching  Doctor Cha with affection. We would like to apologize for hurting the sentiments of the patients and their families for the episode that was aired on May 6 which dealt with a particular disease".

While the episode was intended to cover a specific case of a patient with severe complications of Crohn's disease, we failed to provide an adequate explanation that this was not a typical case of Crohn's disease.

We did not pay enough attention to the fact that dialogue spoken by characters without medical expertise could lead to a negative perception of a specific disease.

The entire production team of  Doctor Cha would like to emphasize that it was never our intention to trivialize the pain and suffering of patients undergoing treatment. We will strive to be more careful in the production of the drama, to ensure that there is no discomfort caused to viewers while watching the show.

Thank you.

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