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Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Would the parade of "doctors" "speculating" about celebrity medical conditions kindly STFU?
Posted by Jill | 6:22 AM
I'm not much for celebrity journalism. I'm not fascinated by people just because they're famous. I don't care about their baby bumps, or whom they're sleeping with, or their DWI arrests. To the extent that I care, it's about those who create some kind of art and how good a job they do. I can respect the humanitarian work that Angelina Jolie does, and I can respect the hard work she does on screen (every bit of which, unfortunately, often shows in that you are always aware you're watching a performance). But I really don't care how many children she has or what she and Brad Pitt are doing. Celebrities are no better than the rest of us, just sometimes (and I mean sometimes) luckier and with more money.

But as the family of Natasha Richardson laudably tries mightily to keep her condition private after a skiing accident, at least one doctor is out there "speculating" about what "may have happened" to cause her "condition" -- a condition that is as yet unknown.

Dr. Steven Flanagan of the Rusk Institute for Rehabilitation Medicine at New York University admits to speculating, but that didn't stop him from being right out of the gate describing to -- wait for it -- Fox News -- the horrifyingly picturesquely-named "talk and die syndrome."

It's one thing for Nancy Snyderman to show up on Today talking in general about head injuries and what you should do if you or someone with you falls and takes a hard hit to the head. That is using a current event to spark the dissemination of useful information in regard to something medical which most people probably never consider. But when doctors show up doing diagnosis-from-afar, that strikes me as professional malpractice.

The minute Jett Travolta turned up dead in the Bahamas, a similar parade of doctors came out of the woodwork speculating on the cause of death, and here we go again. I understand that there is a morbid fascination with tragedies visited on celebrities because such adversity flies in the face of what we mistakenly believe to be their charmed, trouble-free lives. But for all that it may sometimes feel as if we "know" these people based on images on some kind of glowing screen, we don't. Nor are we "entitled" to know what's going on almost before the family does. But gossipmongers will do what they do because that's what they get paid to do. Doctors, on the other hand, are NOT paid to speculate on the medical condition of celebrities they haven't even seen. So just as Bill Frist had no business speculating on the true condition of Terri Schiavo based on a heavily-edited video by her parents, these doctors who slither out of the woodwork to discuss the conditions of patients they don't know should be beaten with sticks.

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Anonymous Anonymous said...
I agree with you about speculation from people (doctors, etc.) who are not participants or concerned parties to an event or situation.

About ten years ago Liam Neeson had accident while riding a motorcycle. He was transferred to the ICU at Lenox Hill Hospital. My mother was in the "room" next to his at the time and later told us that he and his family were really very nice.

I hope things turn out well for Natasha Richardson and the family.

PurpleGirl
3/18/09, 7:02 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...
Disgusting road kill ghouls....
3/18/09, 2:47 PM  
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