Monday, September 22, 2014

* Fatal Medical Choices: Hubris of the Super Stars



 






 

The Famous Can Present

a Minefield for Doctors


 
SEPT. 21, 2014
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/22/nyregion/joan-rivers-treatment-seen-as-possible-example-of-vip-syndrome.html?_r=0


As F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote, "Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me.” It is an observation that holds true, apparently, even in the operating room. The treatment of Joan Rivers at a Manhattan endoscopy clinic last month may be the latest example of what is known in the medical profession as “V.I.P. Syndrome,” in which famous or influential patients get special treatment. And surprisingly often, it is not for the best . . .

Several doctors said that if the clinic, Yorkville Endoscopy, had granted a privilege to Ms. Rivers that they would not have granted to a typical patient, it could be seen as a case of V.I.P. Syndrome. It is unclear who coined the term, but it was described in a 1964 article by a psychiatrist, Dr. Walter Weintraub, in The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, where he wrote, “the treatment of an influential man can be extremely hazardous for both patient and doctor.”
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Steve Jobs' Cancer Treatment Regrets
 

Alice G. Walton
http://www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2011/10/24/steve-jobs-cancer-treatment-regrets/


 Jobs’ “magical thinking” may have defined his business brilliance, but it could have been his downfall in his fight against cancer.
According to Steve Jobs’ biographer, Walter Isaacson, the Apple mastermind eventually came to regret the decision he had made years earlier to reject potentially life-saving surgery in favor of alternative treatments like acupuncture, dietary supplements and juices. Though he ultimately embraced the surgery and sought out cutting-edge experimental methods, they were not enough to save him.

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