Very creepy article about Bill Frist at washingtonpost.com

[woo me with science]

Bill Frist: A Doctor at Heart

By Laura Blumenfeld
Wednesday, May 24, 2006; Page A21

The houses were dark on Bill Frist's street. A morning bird chirped; the others were waiting for dawn. But Frist was awake, and his bedroom light was on. .....One Saturday night, Karyn (his wife) recalled, "we were supposed to go to a movie. He walked out in his scrubs." Instead of taking Karyn to the theater, Frist brought her to the operating room. "To see the human body alive -- without a heart in it."

As Karyn spoke, Frist came down the stairs. "This is really who you are," she said, looking up at him. She first met Frist in the emergency room, where he treated her for a sprained wrist. "I fell in love with him in his scrub suit, with blood splattered on his clogs. I see him doing that, almost more than as a politician."

Frist, at heart, is a doctor. .....in Washington, he has quietly cultivated another practice: gorillas at the National Zoo.

SNIP

"Well, your first patient was a dog," Karyn said. In medical school, Frist cut out a dog's heart and held it in his palm. It continued to beat for a slippery minute. "Watching it beat, the beauty of it," Frist recalled. "I decided I would spend my life centered around the heart."

SNIP

At the zoo hospital, a team of four veterinarians, three technicians, an animal keeper and a veterinary dentist were wheeling a 350-pound gorilla into surgery as Frist arrived......Frist joined the team, as he had on other mornings, tying on a mask. He unbuttoned his business shirt, revealing jungle-pattern surgical scrubs and a pair of hairy, toned biceps.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/23/AR2006052301380.html

[Dunvegan]

1. Oy. My. God.

WaPo: You are hereby ordered to an offical "time-out"...go sit in the corner and consider your life until after Memorial Day.

That is all.

[Julius Civitatus]

17. I thought it was a parody first. I had to read it again

to realize the author was serious. It's like a cheap romance novella about "doctor Frist." All those descriptions of his "manliness," his "well toned biceps," and "hairy" body are enough to retch. What an awful, misguided, and repugnant love letter to Frist that was.

[woo me with science]

23. I thought so too! nt

[depakid]

2. No mention of his cats I see-

Guess you wouldn't expect that from the Post unless he were a Democrat....

[Warpy]

3. Yeah, the man has a heart of gold

unless you're a cat or a sick American.

The word is that he's a good surgeon, that he's done work outside the country with Doctors Without Borders and some medical missionary outfits, and now we find out he's treated gorillas at the zoo.

While this is commendable, one wonders why he doesn't see his fellow citizens as worthy of care, why he doesn't manage to effect his family business in a more positive way.

[tanyev]

4. Dr. McDreamy for the Kool-Aid crowd.

He unbuttoned his business shirt, revealing jungle-pattern surgical scrubs and a pair of hairy, toned biceps.

Oh, be still my beating heart.

:puke:

[Dufaeth]

5. His interest is not in saving lives, but in the beauty of being's insides

ripped out

[woo me with science]

6. That was what struck me as weird about it.

All the examples are of death. The human body without a heart? Cutting out a dog's heart and holding it until it dies? Blood spatters?

You would think the good memories would be about SAVING lives.

[Dufaeth]

9. My impression is that if he weren't a surgeon, he'd be a serial killer

eom

[woo me with science]

24. Yes, he has an outlet with animals, it seems. nt

[Julius Civitatus]

18. I noticed that too. Psychopath stuff

:scared:

[TygrBright]

7. Most of the surgeons I know acknowledge...

...that while some people pursue surgery because they really, really, want to save lives (albeit in very dramatic fashion; surgeons are the drama queens of the physician universe,) there is also a certain appeal to those who want POWER. The 'holding the heart in the hand' thing appeals to somewhat megalomanaical self-aggrandizing power-hungry sadists. This is a good thing in a way, since if they are smart enough and motivated enough to complete medical school, surgical residence, etc., we (society) are way better off with them applying their skills constructively in the operating theater than elsewhere.

Surgeons themselves will cheerfully admit that there is a substantial subset of their number who are definitely challenged when it comes to empathy, normal social skills, human interaction with live, awake people, etc. Some of them are the best surgeons, too, the ones that other surgeons would pick if they themselves needed surgery. They get into mastering difficult surgical skills and outre, unusual operative techniques, etc., partly out of fascination, partly out of competition (they're extremely competitive,) partly out of the kind of focused drive that you see in ADHD kids playing "Diablo" online. So, no, a particular surgeon's surgical accomplishments do nothing to impress me with his humanitarian impulses and altruistic commitment to the well-being of his fellow human beings. I might be impressed with his skill as a surgeon, but I sure as HELL wouldn't want to put the future of my freedom in his hands based on how much of a kick he gets from cutting on gorillas, even if the gorillas end up better off.

Nice try, WaPo.

dismissively,
Bright

[patcox2]

12. Fantastic comment, you should send it to the Post

really. Very good.

[supernova]

20. As someone who has had

more than my fair share of surgeon contact, I can attest to this. :thumbsup:

[woo me with science]

21. Interesting.

I know there is always a risk of unfair stereotyping, but it is always interesting to hear about the types of people who choose certain occupations. The stereotype about aloof and socially inept engineers has a lot of truth to it, too. And, of course, all psychiatrists are nuts.

[Beausoir]

27. I think that is nonsense. The surgeons I know..and I know ALOT

I happen to be married to one, are kind, normal people. Regular family men and women. Some love their jobs, some don't. Some have large egos, some don't.

Really...what's with all this overdramatic ghoulish surgeon stuff.

It's silly.

[displacedtexan]

8. Billie Frist, Safari Surgeon

The funny story with pics is at Tennessee Guerrilla Women.

BTW, this is one of the blogs showcased in tomorrow's DU Blog Box column.

[Dufaeth]

11. "One day, he hopes to cure AIDS or cancer. He sucked on the stem of his gl

:rofl: He doesn't even know how it is transmitted!

[Avalux]

10. What is this unnatural obsession with a beating heart?

Could it be because he doesn't have one? Frist is one creepy dude. No way I'd let that freak treat me.

[woo me with science]

25. Or a living body without a heart.

Sounds like Republican social policy.

[paparush]

13. Frist, Obsessed with the Heartless, Begins Stalking Cheney!!

[CornField]

14. Ick... ick... double-ick...

He was the Senate majority leader of the gorillas, who negotiated disputes, back-slapped the ape boys and owned exclusive mating rights with the females.

Ahhh... that's the 'perfect life' to which GOP men aspire.

[dave123williams]

15. Hairy? Toned?

Fawning. Creepy.

[lonestarnot]

16. icky...

[Norquist Nemesis]

19. The book will be out by October

and the cover will sport Fabio in scrubs.

[woo me with science]

22. LOL nt

[AlCzervik]

26. "You had me with blood splatter" oh yeah, thats dead sexy.

thats just weird.