NBC under fire for portrayal of Orthodox Jews

(JTA) — Jewish groups are criticizing NBC for airing an offensive portrayal of an Orthodox Jew on one of its medical dramas.

The objectionable storyline occurred on an episode of “Nurses,” a Canadian hour-long drama following a group of nurses in a Toronto hospital. In the episode, a young Hasidic patient is told he will need a bone graft to heal his broken leg, leading his devout father to recoil at the possibility of a “dead goyim leg from anyone. An Arab, a woman.”

The incident occurs in the series’ eighth episode, “Achilles Heel,” which originally aired on NBC on Feb. 9. The episode’s init...