The Young Doctors is a 1961 film directed by Phil Karlson

Phil Karlson

Phil Karlson was a film director known for his no-nonsense film noirs. Karlson directed 99 River Street, Kansas City Confidential and Hell's Island all with actor John Payne in the early 1950s...

 and starring Ben Gazzara

Ben Gazzara

-Early life:Gazzara was born Biagio Anthony Gazzara in New York City, the son of Italian immigrants Angelina and Antonio Gazzara, who was a laborer and carpenter. Gazzara grew up on New York's tough Lower East Side. He actually lived on E. 29th Street and participated in the drama program at...

, Fredric March

Fredric March

Fredric March was an American stage and film actor. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1932 for Dr. Jekyll and Mr...

, Dick Clark, Ina Balin

Ina Balin

Ina Balin was an American actress on Broadway and in film.Born as Ina Rosenberg to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, she first appeared on television on The Perry Como Show...

, Eddie Albert

Eddie Albert

Edward Albert Heimberger , known professionally as Eddie Albert, was an American actor and activist. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1954 for his performance in Roman Holiday, and in 1973 for The Heartbreak Kid.Other well-known screen roles of his include Bing...

, Phyllis Love

Phyllis Love

Phyllis Love was an American theater and television actress.-Career:Throughout the 1950s she acted in Broadway productions and the occasional film. She won the Clarence Derwent Award in 1951 for her role in The Rose Tattoo. On television, she appeared principally in guest roles from 1950 until her...

, Aline MacMahon

Aline MacMahon

Aline MacMahon was an American actress. Her career began on stage in 1921. She worked extensively in film and television until her retirement in 1975. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Dragon Seed .-Early life:Aline Laveen MacMahon was born...

, George Segal

George Segal

George Segal is an American film, stage and television actor.-Early life:George Segal, Jr. was born in 1934 Great Neck, Long Island, New York, the son of Fannie Blanche and George Segal, Sr. He was educated at George School, a private Quaker preparatory boarding school near Newtown, Bucks County,...

 and Dolph Sweet

Dolph Sweet

Dolph Sweet was an American actor, credited with nearly 60 television and film roles as well as several roles in stage productions before his death from cancer in 1985.-Biography:...

. The film is based on the 1959 novel "The Final Diagnosis" by Arthur Hailey

Arthur Hailey

Arthur Hailey was a British/Canadian novelist.- Biography :Born in Luton, Bedfordshire, England, Hailey served in the Royal Air Force from the start of World War II during 1939 until 1947, when he went to live in Canada. Hailey's last novel, Detective , is a mystery told from the perspective of a...

. Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan

Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....

 was the narrator in the film.

Plot

David Coleman (Gazzara) is a young doctor hired by a hospital's pathology department. The head of the department, Dr. Joseph Pearson (March), sees Coleman as a rival, and they fight over many medical issues. Coleman falls in love with Cathy Hunt (Balin), a nurse at the hospital, who develops a tumor in her knee. Pearson believes that the tumor is malignant and that the leg should be amputated, but Coleman disagrees. Coleman orders three blood tests on Mrs. Alexander, an expectant mother whose baby may have hemolytic disease

Hemolytic disease of the newborn

Hemolytic disease of the newborn, also known as hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn, HDN, HDFN, or erythroblastosis fetalis, is an alloimmune condition that develops in a fetus, when the IgG molecules produced by the mother pass through the placenta...

, but Pearson believes that the tests are excessive and cancels the third test. Mrs. Alexander is married to a young intern at the hospital (Clark), who, along with Coleman, tried to push for the third test. When the baby is born seriously ill, Dr. Charles Dornberger (Albert), Mrs. Alexander's OB/GYN, berates Pearson and conducts a blood transfusion to save the baby's life. Pearson's future at the hospital becomes uncertain, and he resigns. Coleman has changed his mind about Cathy's tumor and agrees with Pearson's decision, while Pearson says that Coleman reminds him of himself when he was young and urges him not to let hospital bureacracy to wear him down.