Shaun Murphy (The Good Doctor)

Shaun Murphy first appears in the show's pilot episode "Burnt Food", where his unique ability to visualize the human body helps him stabilize an injured child. Aaron Glassman (Richard Schiff), president of San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital, advocates for him to be hired despite a board that believes he is untenable.[2]

Throughout the run of The Good Doctor, the character has polarized audiences. A 2019 study stated that audiences who watched The Good Doctor had a greater knowledge of autism than a college lecture on the subject.[11] Conversely, Autistic Doctors International founder Mary Doherty said that Murphy's portrayal was a "missed opportunity". In one scene, a convenience store robber tells Murphy to show his hands and hand him his wallet. In response, Murphy says that the robber "can't see [his] hands" if he reaches for his wallet, leading to the robber firing a shot and injuring a bystander; Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network senior advisor Lydia Brown said that the scene was inaccurate. Brown also criticized the inaccuracy of Murphy as a savant,[12] a criticism shared by several researchers in The Lancet.[8] In Mental Health Disorders on Television: Representation Versus Reality, Kimberley McMahon-Coleman and Roslyn Weaver compared Murphy with autistic savant Raymond Babbitt, played by Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man (1988),[13] as did Murray Pomerance and R. Barton Palmer.[14]

In an essay published in JAMA, Abigail Zuger posed the question on whether a doctor could succeed with autism, writing, "But should a persistent and profound inability to communicate with patients be considered a disability to be overcome in medicine or a nonnegotiable disqualification?" Zuger also noted the ambiguity of the show's title in reference to either Murphy or the various persons of color within the show—such as Claire Brown (Antonia Thomas) or Jared Kalu (Chuku Modu); although Murphy saves lives, he does so at a greater cost than most other doctors.[15] Murphy is the subject of a bioethics study conducted in 2018, which found that the show could be used to teach bioethics to health sciences students.[16] Several researchers compared Murphy favorably to Atypical's Sam Gardner and Speechless's JJ DiMio, who suffers from cerebral palsy, as an optimistic character.[17]

Critically, the character of Shaun Murphy has received some praise. The New York Times television critic James Poniewozik called Murphy an "anti-anti hero" in contrast to Gregory House, the protagonist of House; both shows were created by David Shore.[18] In the season one episode "She", Murphy is shown failing to comprehend a transgender patient.[19] Slate journalist Sara Luterman, who is autistic herself, noted an overlap between autism and transgender individuals. Luterman later stated to The Washington Post that although she reviewed the show's first season favorably, she no longer watches the show.[12]