History Main / HospitalParadiso

* ''VideoGame/TraumaCenter'':

* ''Series/DoogieHowserMD''

* Used in a skit on the Israeli satire show ''Eretz Nehederet'', criticising the government’s ineffectual treatment of the collapsing healthcare system, comparing public hospitals, depicted as severely overcrowded with collapsing staff and a mean nurse with a thick Russian accent, and private ones, depicted as this, with the same nurse being extra-nice and with no Russian accent.

* On ''Series/{{Castle}}'', Detective Beckett leaves her New York City precinct for a few episodes about halfway into the show to accept a job offer at the FBI's Washington D.C. branch instead. It's a serious step up from her previous job and gives her access to all sorts of fancy toys and other resources, but [[ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight her incorruptible morals]] quickly collide with her new colleagues' GreyAndGrayMorality, so it doesn't take too long for her to return to her old job. Unsurprisingly, everyone both InUniverse and out was mightily pleased with this development.

* In ''Theatre/{{Allegro}}'', Joseph Taylor, Jr. interns at a Chicago hospital where his friend's uncle is Physician-in-Chief. He originally turns their offer down, but reconsiders after Jenny persuades him that the higher pay will give them the $10,000 his father needs to finish his small-town hospital and let them afford to have a baby. Of course, the big city practice turns out to be focused on sucking up to rich people than treating patients with serious medical conditions.

* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': For all that he mightily pissed off Major Kira with his rather tactless comment about "frontier medicine" in the first episode, Julian Bashir really did volunteer to become Chief Medical Officer on a remote, semi-derelict space station orbiting an impoverished planet in the back-end of nowhere when a doctor with his credentials could have got him a posting on any Starfleet vessel or facility in the Federation. Later he meets a graduate from his class who took a prestigious assignment on a Starfleet vessel and complained how boring it was.

-->-- ''Allegro''

** This is ultimately how Frank Burns, the show's love-to-hate ButtMonkey ultimately winds up getting the last laugh. After having a complete mental breakdown he was judged as unfit to continue to serve in Korea and was re-assigned to a cushy stateside hospital with fewer responsibilities, better living conditions, easier communication to his beloved mother, and a promotion. He even gets to call and gloat about it... right when the people he hated are in the middle of celebrating him being gone.

* In ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'' Marshall [[ZigZaggedTrope ping-pongs on this]], sometimes being very committed to becoming an environmental lawyer, other times deciding that providing for himself, Lily, and their eventual kids is worth taking a less-fulfilling but better paying position for a [[CorruptCorporateExecutive corrupt corporation]]. He settled into his job at Goliath National Bank pretty well, at the Earth ''really'' pays for it if future Ted is to believed (according to this show, we never stopped global warming etc), but he later ditched Goliath and is working for an environmental firm. Future Ted mentions that Marshall's commitment to the environmental cause saved the planet.

* Inverted in ''Series/MondayMornings''. Chelsea General in Oregon is a very fancy hospital, frequently referred to as one of the top in the world. All the doctors are absolutely stellar with deservedly developed God complex. However, their boss is ''not'' understanding when they mess up, and they are often called out on their screw-ups, even if they are just minor mistakes. Two doctors get sacked in season 1. [[spoiler:One is apparently an incompetent doctor, while the other as as awesome as the rest, but his team let him down and he killed a patient during a routine procedure.]]

** Mordin, who is a brilliant physician and biologist, is found in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' running a clinic in a slum on [[WretchedHive Omega]]. He cheerfully admits he enjoys the challenge of working with limited resources and considers it important to see the results of his work first-hand.

* Justified in an episode of ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' when the Doctor is stolen and put to work in a hospital which provides medical care to patients based on their (perceived) importance to society. Level "Red" is undersupplied, understaffed, and crowded with patients who can't be properly treated, while the higher "Blue" level features ideal working conditions and allows one doctor per patient. The Doctor, assigned to the Blue level based on his medical skills, resists the assignment given the much greater need on the lower levels.

** Played straight with Henry Blake in an earlier episode - he's getting on in years and arthritis would be a perfect reason to get discharged back to his safe civilian practice in the States. He's a reputable doctor back in Illinois, but he wants the challenge and the chance to make a difference doing surgery at a MASH unit.

** Later on Luka Kovac gets an interesting variation where a very nice private care home where most of his work would be palliative care is a Hospital Paradiso ''and'' offers an appeal to his desire to help people, after a priority shift following the long, drawn out death of his father. The problem is, something that the audience may see better than he does, is that the priority shift may be just a temporary reaction and changing work may harm his marriage.

** Inverted: The Hospital Paradiso is not a plot arc but rather the actual setting: the hospital is sleeker looking than a boutique hotel, always clean and spacious -- deserted at night, the waiting room for the free clinic is outside the Chief of Medicine's office and only in the first four episodes is it even referenced that it's unusual to get into MRI and CT's as quickly as House does. House's (double) office is a few times larger than any realistic doctor's office, complete with glass walls. However, it doesn't have any cable which House spent an episode trying in vain to correct.

A character who works in some career with a focus on helping people (doctor, lawyer, clown) will get the opportunity to work in a veritable Eden. It's a beautifully decorated, spacious, and spotlessly clean hospital/lawfirm/circus equipped with state-of-the-art equipment, and servicing an exclusive clientele. The working conditions are excellent and the pay is even better. The boss is charming, and he's seriously interested in offering our physician hero a job.

** [[spoiler: Hilariously? She only took it to piss him off, and basically works at Sacred Heart ANYWAY...she just gets more pay.]]

He'll never take it, of course. Not just because StatusQuoIsGod, but because the job wouldn't be "real medicine/law/clowning". It isn't really Eden but a temptation that would lead him into job satisfaction hell. The character will state that he's only interested in helping the genuinely needy people who stagger into the ugly, barely-functional shack he works in, rather than the affluent clientele who already have ample options and opportunity for decent health care. That's why he went to medical school/law school/clown college in the first place. Such a statement may just be a return to form after this temporary temptation, the question of moving elsewhere only appearing for an episode or two. On the other hand, it could be the WorldOfCardboardSpeech coming after a long period of confusion, where the appearance of Hospital Paradiso provides a clear dichotomy in his path and makes him realize his real desires.

* Inverted in the first ''VideoGame/TraumaCenter'' installment. When the main character is presented with the opportunity to work at Caduceus, the largest medicine research organization in the world, he actually chooses to go there after deciding that it's worth abandoning his current place (and having a closer relationship with his patients) if it means saving many lives at Caduceus. And starting up the main plot.

-->-- ''Theatre/{{Allegro}}''

* ''Series/{{Scrubs}}' Dr. Cox has nothing but contempt and disdain for doctors who play this trope straight, believing them to only be lazy money-grubbers who don't care about their patients. His dislike for Dr. Eliot Reid ratchets up when she takes a private practice job.

* Inverted in the first ''VideoGame/TraumaCenter'' installment. When the main character is presented with the opportunity to work at Caduceus, the largest medicine research organization in the world, he actually chooses to go there after deciding that it's worth abandoning his current place (and having a closer relationship with his patients) if it means saving many lives at Caduceus.

* On ''Series/WalkerTexasRanger'', prosecutor Alex has an interview at a fancy law firm. She decides not to take the job after she realizes that a six-figure salary isn't worth defending criminals and other scumbags. Her having spent the being kidnapped, beaten, and nearly raped by one of these said scumbags no doubt influenced her decision.

* Played with in ''Series/GreysAnatomy'' when Christina discovers the very zen dermatology wing/department. TruthInTelevision--a lot of RealLife have this attitude towards certain specialities, dermatology being one of them. Also, when Addison Shepherd leaves the cast, she heads to ''Series/PrivatePractice'', which is a well-decorated office in Los Angeles instead of a hospital in Seattle.

* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': For all that he mightily pissed off Major Kira with his rather tactless comment about "frontier medicine" in the first episode, Julian Bashir really did volunteer to become Chief Medical Officer on a remote, semi-derelict space station orbiting an impoverished planet in the back-end of nowhere when a doctor with his credentials could have got him a posting on any Starfleet vessel or facility in the Federation.

* Both [[AcePilot Harm]] and [[ActionGirl Mac]] leave ''{{Series/JAG}}'' temporarily. Harm gets transferred back to flying duty after getting corrective eye surgury, and Mac retires to work at a prestigious D.C. law firm. Harm returns in the next season after realizing he can do the most good as a lawyer, and Mac [[TenMinuteRetirement returns to duty]] after realizing she doesn't like her new job, [[ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem and that Admiral Chegwidden had never actually done anything with her letter of resignation]] except keep it on his desk [[GenreSavvy awaiting her return]].

* On ''Series/{{Castle}}'', Detective Beckett leaves her New York City precinct for a few episodes about halfway into the show to accept a job offer at the FBI's Washington D.C. branch instead. It's a serious step up from her previous job and gives her access to all sorts of fancy toys and other resources, but [[ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight her incorruptible morals]] quickly collide with her new colleagues' GreyAndGrayMorality, so it doesn't take too long for her to return to her old job. Unsurprisingly, everyone both InUniverse and out was mightily pleased by this development.

* Subverted in the first ''VideoGame/TraumaCenter'' installment. When the main character is presented with the opportunity to work on Caduceus, the largest medicine research organization in the world, he actually chooses to go there after deciding that it's worth abandoning his current place (and having a closer relationship with his patients) if it means saving many lives on Caduceus.

** Downplayed with Henry in an earlier episode - he's getting on in years and arthritis would be a perfect reason to get discharged back to his safe civilian practice in the States. He's a reputable doctor back in Illinois, but he wants the challenge and the chance to make a difference doing surgery at a MASH unit.

* Played with in ''Series/GreysAnatomy'' when Christina discovers the very zen dermatology wing/department. Also, when Addison Shepherd leaves the cast, she heads to ''Series/PrivatePractice'', which is a well-decorated office in Los Angeles instead of a hospital in Seattle.