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A killer doll might seem an unlikely starting point for a conversation about compassionate eye care. But in this Halloween episode of OD’ing on Movies, Dr. Jacobi Cleaver and Dr. Jacob Wilson welcome Dr. Maciel Cruz for a discussion that moves from Child’s Play to the realities of hospital practice. Between the laughs and movie critiques emerges a thoughtful look at access, collaboration, and finding a meaningful place in optometry.
A Familiar Villain, Revisited
For Cruz, who grew up watching horror movies, choosing Child’s Play meant revisiting a childhood favorite. The original film follows a boy whose new doll carries the spirit of a serial killer—and whose warnings initially go unbelieved.
Rewatching it, Cleaver found unexpected comedy in Chucky’s profanity and frantic movements. Wilson appreciated how the premise gave the familiar slasher formula a different shape. Their reactions capture the film’s peculiar appeal: a villain who can be unsettling and ridiculous within the same scene.
When Eye Care Becomes Urgent
The movie’s eye injuries provide a natural bridge to Cruz’s work at Metropolitan Hospital in New York City. There, her day can include comprehensive examinations, diabetic eye care, emergency referrals, and patients presenting with double vision or foreign bodies.
Some arrive for their first eye examination with advanced disease. Cruz describes encountering proliferative diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma among patients facing barriers such as lack of insurance or difficulty obtaining medication.
Care also requires patient education. Explaining what an A1C measures, she notes, can be essential when someone assumes that individual blood sugar readings tell the whole story.
As Cleaver observes, the complexity of these encounters cannot be understood through appointment numbers alone.
Finding a Place in Hospital Practice
That clinical variety is part of what Cruz values about her career. Her VA residency and experience working alongside ophthalmologists helped prepare her for hospital practice, although she emphasizes that hiring requirements vary.
For students considering their options, the conversation broadens beyond practice ownership. Cruz prefers concentrating on patients without the added responsibilities of running a business. Wilson encourages evaluating benefits and time off alongside salary.
Collaboration matters just as much. Cleaver describes optometry and ophthalmology working toward the same goal, with patients moving between clinicians as their treatment needs change.
Compassion Across Cultures
That patient-centered approach extends to Cruz’s leadership of the Academy’s Salud Special Interest Group. Its work includes Spanish-language examinations, farmworker eye care, and mentorship for Hispanic and Latino students and residents.
Discussing cultural home remedies, Cruz advocates understanding patients’ beliefs rather than dismissing them outright. Compassion begins with listening to what people already do and why.
Her closing advice to students is similarly direct: “Be yourself.” Beneath the Halloween costumes and Chucky jokes, the episode’s lasting message is about connection—finding work that fits, respecting patients’ experiences, and bringing an authentic human presence into the examination room.
