You know the story, the situation is just so bizarre, so outlandish, so tragic. . .you just can't look away. For years, I have been intrigued by the iconic status that certain people establish. What makes them not only celebrities, but icons? It goes beyond the talent. It is an ecclecticism that transcends the bounds of understanding. A magnetism.
It is a rare few people on this earth that achieve such an existance. Ghandi. Princess Diana. And yes, Michael Jackson. Those whose sudden departure from the world shatters the public to its knees.
As a consumate people watcher, I try to wrap my head around what makes these people tick; albeit from a mere mortal distance. I certainly would never exist in their realm. As such, I must rely on the academic and savvy intuitiveness of others to stealth information. I couldn't stop myself from following the life and times of Priness Diana. I read every article, every book, and was stunned to the core when her life tragically ended in that crash in the tunnel at Pointe de Alma.
As for Michael Jackson, it was a freakish interest. Peering into his looking glass, one felt garish. His actions outrageous. His life, a spectacle. He was childlike, the classic narcissist. His antics were a tabloid's delight. I posted in an earlier blog about feeing like a voyeur in reading and watching the media glare on his life and death.
For the first time today, an interview captured the full spectacle. The headline was the one I was waiting to see confirmed, Diprivan found at the home of Michael Jackson by Anderson Cooper on CNN. In it, Dr. Drew Pinsky explained very succinctly how being a celebrity with profound addulation fuels this need for adoration and narcissism.
What was stunning to me about the Diprivan was that as a trauma and ICU nurse, I have administered this powerful drug to my patients. -but patients that were entubated, certainly not conscious. Diprivan is an anesthetic. It produces unconsciousness in a plane of anesthesia, not sleep. The most interesting question, why would any reputable physician prescribe or allow a medication such as this to be in someone's home? Dr. Pinsky states that although he finds this so outlandish, "along the lines of aliens landing from Mars," he sees it as a classic example of the power, the need for those caregivers providing service to him to be included in the inner circle. That fact that a lay person asks for this medication by name, in and of itself is an indication of the "breakdown between doctor and patient relationship."
He believes that some celebrities come to view themselves as too special. -so special that they believe they deserve VIP treatment, beyond what the normal patient deserves. What they fail to recognize is that the standard of care IS the standard of care, it is the best for the patient. Often when icons choose to go outside this, demanding things beyond that - the care is actually substandard because the caregiver practices outside the evidence based gold standard.
This interview should be played around the world. It is the perfect explanation for this colossal celebrity free fall - and ultimate implosion.
