Celebrity medicine is a different medicine. Those physicians that we hear about from media reports provide personalized health care to their famous patients. By the time we hear about this sensitive, personal, private informaton something has gone wrong. Even when a personal physician is not involved, medical errors that lead to death are common.
Do these physicians lurk in the shadows waiting to pounce on the rich and famous? For money? For fame? How could someone trained to heal bring harm? It is surely puzzling to me. Even more puzzling is the fact that celebrities like many people fail to practice preventive medicine. Given the means to pay for health expenses and more (like home defibrillators or home clinic) there is a sense that this is not a priority. Then along comes a quack, or unexpected death.
No one is immune to bad medicine.
by J. L. Richardson, MD, family medicine physician, patient advocate, and author of Patient Handbook to Medical Care: Your Personal Health Guide.
