American Morning
Nutritionist: Jackson begged for sedatives for insomnia
LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) - Michael Jackson suffered from severe bouts of insomnia and pleaded for a powerful sedative despite knowing its harmful effects, a nutritionist who worked with the singer said Tuesday.
Cherilyn Lee, a registered nurse and nurse practitioner who first met Jackson in January to treat his children for a common cold, said she rejected his requests for Diprivan and informed him of the side effects.
"I told him this medication is not safe," Lee said. "He said, 'I just want to get some sleep. You don't understand. I just want to be able to be knocked out and go to sleep.'"
"I told him - and it is so painful that I actually felt it in my whole spirit - 'If you take this you might not wake up.'"
According to the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, nurse practitioners "provide high-quality health care services similar to those of a doctor." They can also prescribe medications, according to the academy's Web site.
CNN could not independently verify whether Lee worked with Jackson.
Doctors and celebrities – Money over ethics?
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/06/30/jackson.rehearsal.art.jpg caption="Michael Jackson rehearses at the Staples Center on June 23, 2009."]
Most of us will never feel the healing hand of a concierge doctor.
A what?
A CONCIERGE doctor. They’re the ones who devote all or most of their time to a single, very wealthy client. Think Michael Jackson.
On June 15, Dr. Conrad Murray wrote a letter to his patients saying he would “cease practice of medicine indefinitely” due to a “once in a lifetime opportunity.” The sound of opportunity knocking was no less than the "King of Pop," Michael Jackson.
Murray had turned to practicing concierge medicine.
It was Murray who as Jackson’s personal doctor was at his side during the moments when the pop star’s life started to slip away last week. And it is Murray who was questioned by police and who is the subject of much unproven speculation about the role of prescription drugs in the death.
Murray’s lawyer, Edward Chernoff, has vigorously denied that his client prescribed the painkillers Dermerol and Oxycontin to Jackson. He described all of that as “rumors”.
Medical ethicists, while not commenting specifically about Murray, take a very cautionary view towards any doctor who devotes all or most of his time to a single patient.
“It can be intoxicating,” says the University of Pennsylvania’s Art Caplan. “When you’re going to hire yourself out as a solo physician, you’re really tempted to say this is really going to be glamour and this is going to be big money. However the problem is it also means a very demanding patient.”
In other words, it’s hard to say no to that kind of patient.
Caplan: “It’s difficult to be a concierge doctor in the sense in which the temptations to try and please your patient are too great. And I think the temptation is not to listen to your peers and not to have someone looking over your shoulder, which I think is the essential check and balance of good medicine. It’s tempting to be out there on your own egotistically saying, I can handle everything. I think that leads to danger.”
Besides the seduction of being near a celebrity, there’s the challenge of not getting to close to the patient.
Referencing a common saying among doctors, NYU Langone School of Medicine Psychiatrist Vatsal Thakkar told CNN, “We should not treat friends, family, or ourselves...It goes back to setting up situations where we might deviate from the type of care that we provide. And you know, if there is a dual relationship, hypothetically in a situation, that could be a complicating factor.”
President playing favorites?
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/06/25/obama.press.conference.getty.art.jpg caption="President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference in the James S. Brady Briefing Room at the White House June 23, 2009 in Washington, DC."]
It is unusual for a town hall meeting to be held in the White House, but President Obama knows how to use the media. But that doesn’t mean the media is allowing itself to be used, although as Republican Congressman Lamar Smith puts it, “Right now I think they (voters) are not getting the facts and therefore it’s hard to make good decisions, and therefore our democracy is threatened.”
But in the world of broadcast journalism, last night ABC New’s “Questions for the President: Prescription for America” was a “coup” and a political football. The Republican National Committee went on the offense and ran an ad saying, "Today a national network turns its airwaves over to President pitch for government run healthcare.
A not-so-veiled attempt, some say, to paint not only President Obama's healthcare plan as "socialist" but make the media a willing partner. Independent analyst and Daily Beast columnist, John Avlon says, “I think what you have is the newest incarnation of the oldest story that so many of us are sick of, which is partisan talking points clouding all common sense.”
Fair criticism or not, some say the President is fueling the fire by playing favorites. Before holding a press conference Tuesday, the White House gave Nico Pitney from The Huffington Post a heads-up the President was going to "call on him."
President Obama: “Nico, I know that you, and all across the Internet, we've been seeing a lot of reports coming directly out of Iran. Do you have a question?"
In short – that's unusual. And it didn't sit well with some journalists.
Healthcare nightmare
President Obama says he's confident he'll get a plan in place that will drive down the crushing cost of health care for Americans who have it while helping the millions who don't.
CNN’s Jim Acosta has the story of a Texas woman who says her insurance company tried to sentence her to death.
Unlocking the mystery of autism
Tony Williams remembers the moment when he found out his baby Tony Jr. had autism.
“It was just heartbreaking. I sat in the room and cried.”
That was a year and a half ago. Tony Jr. is now almost 3-years-old, but even with early intervention he barely speaks and is prone to tantrums.
His mother Daureena Williams says there are times when she feels lost not knowing what to do.
“There are days when you wake up and he’s just screaming at the top of his lungs from the time he wakes up to the time he goes to bed.”
The Williamses say they’ll do whatever they can to improve the life of their son. A new groundbreaking study may give them that opportunity.
Over the years there have been many theories but nothing definitive about what causes autism, a developmental disorder that affects one in 150 children in the United States. Now researchers are about to embark on one of the largest and most comprehensive studies aimed at finding a cure. The National Institutes of Health and the advocacy group Autism Speaks will fund the study.
Researchers plan to study 1200 pregnant women who already have a child with autism. After the mother gives birth, researchers will then turn their attention to the first three years of the child’s life. Professor Craig Newschaffer of Drexel University is heading up the study.
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Edie Falco: Health care reform can't wait
Editor's Note: Edie Falco is an Emmy Award-winning actress best known for her character "Carmela Soprano” in the groundbreaking HBO series "The Sopranos." She is now starring in the new series "Nurse Jackie" that premiered on Showtime in early June 2009.
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/06/25/edie.falco.getty.art.jpg caption="Actress Edie Falco arrives at the 59th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards September 16, 2007 in Los Angeles, California."]
By Edie Falco
Special to CNN
Health care is something that affects everyone in America, and I am glad that we are having a national conversation about it. I am supporting Health Care for America Now because we are at a moment in time when we can actually make change that impacts peoples’ lives in a very real way.
We have got to fix health care, and we have got to do it right now. Health care reform cannot wait.
As a struggling artist, I spent many years without health coverage. I know the feeling of hoping your symptoms go away before you have to get money together to see a doctor. I know worrying about it makes it even harder to get better. I still have friends and family in this position.
It’s true, I have health care now. I have good doctors and I'm treated very well, and I can’t tell you how grateful I am for this. But I believe no one person is any more worthy of such treatment than any other person who may be sitting at home right now worried about their own health or the health of a loved one, knowing they don't have the money to take care of it. With all of the wealth and ingenuity in our country, I know we can do better. We can fix this.
FULL POST
Filed under: Commentary • Health