“The Disembodied Woman” by Brilliant Minds was a real case

A fascinating and unique aspect of NBC's new medical drama. Brilliant mindsis that the neurological cases presented in each episode by the fictional Bronx General Hospital neurologist, Dr. Oliver Wolf (Zachary Quinto), are actually all based on the real case studies of the world-famous neurologist and writer Dr. Oliver Sacks (1933) based -2015).

Showrunner Michael Grassi picked many of the A-story cases directly from Sacks' non-fiction books: The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Stories (1985) and An anthropologist on Mars (1995). In this week's episode, “The Disembodied Woman,” for example, the plight of beloved basketball coach Jesse Williams (Nedra Marie Taylor) is based on a case of the same name from Sacks' 1985 book about a patient with acute polyneuropathy. However, the case, now 40 years old, has been updated to reflect modern times and the way medicine treats the condition, incorporating four decades of new research.

NBC Insider I recently spoke with Kate Edgar, Sacks' friend, former editor and current director of the Oliver Sacks Foundation, to find out how the changes make the show more accessible to today's audiences.

Dr. Oliver Sacks' original case study for “The Disembodied Lady”

In Sacks' case study chapter “The Disembodied Lady” in his book, the patient Christina is a young 20-year-old mother of two. She's about to have gallbladder surgery when she dreams that she can't feel or control her body, making it impossible for her to make contact with the ground beneath her. As Sacks investigates more closely what is happening to her, he orders a lumbar puncture, which reveals that she is suffering from a rare form of acute polyneuritis affecting her cranial nerves. She has lost her sense of proprioception, her sense of the relationship between body parts.

The Brilliant minds Version of “The Disembodied Lady”

In the series, Grassi and his writers transformed Christina into Coach Williams, an award-winning player and current coach who is beloved in the community and known for her athletic achievements. This is how she defines herself as a person.

“Pleading the case of a beloved coach and athlete in 2024 was a truly brilliant move,” Edgar said. “It really helped the audience understand how important exercise is. It is important.” all from us, but especially for this woman whose whole life revolved around it.

She continued: “What's special about Oliver's stories is that they tend to focus on a single patient, or perhaps a couple, representing a much larger number of people with similar conditions. But every illness is something that happens to a single person, and that's why people love Oliver's stories. There is a unique situation, but there is also a universality.

Looking at coach William's case from today's perspective, Edgar said there is a possible continuation of what Sacks' work has always done.

“It's a big thing to help people understand what they might have or what their loved ones might have,” she said of the mystery that surrounds many neurological disorders. “And one of the things that was constantly happening in Oliver Sacks' world was that every time an article or a book was published, he would get a flood of mail saying, 'Oh, now I know what I have!' That’s why it’s very important that the media tells these stories.”

New episodes of Brilliant minds Premieres Mondays at 10/9c on NBC and is available to stream on Peacock.