Customer Reviews

When Illness Goes Public: Celebrity Patients and How We Look at Medicine

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Barron Lerner uses 12 case histories to tell how public attitudes affected medicine. When Lou Gehrig developed the lethal ALS, his doctors "protected" him by never telling him the diagnosis or what was going to happen to him. 20 years later the renowned LIFE photographer was diagnosed with Parkinson disease but did not know for 2 years because the information was witheld from her. As the years went by, however, celebrity patients became advocates for research and patient care on behalf of other people with the disease. Some, like Gehrig and Bourke-White were already celebrities when they became ill. Other's became celebrities by virtue of the illness, including Lorenzo Odone (of the film "Lorenzo's Oil"). By pulicizing the long hours of hospital call for sleep-deprived doctors-in-training, the case of Libby Zion changed residency training throough the US. Lerner is a master story teller, and shows how the cases changed the public from subservience to independence and activism.

In a culture where movie stars and politicians post their drug rehabilitation schedules online, we have almost completely forgotten that until a short while ago many diseases were not discussed in public, even by the most celebrated citizens. Barron Lerner's new book reminds us that the tell--all habits of the rich and famous are a recent development, and we learn how the process started to open up more than sixty-five years ago with baseball star Lou Gehrig. It took an announcement that the Gerhig had a rare disease to explain how his legendary streak of consecutive games was broken. Now many people who never went to a baseball game know "Lou Gerhig's disease" because of Yankee Iron Man's willingness to go public. Lerner is unusual, since he was trained as a both an historian and a physican, and that makes this book even more rare: an extremely readable piece of medical history written clearly enough to be of interest--not just to doctors and academics, but to just about anyone who has an interest in Lerner's cast of characters and the maladies they endured.

One of my favorites in the book is Jimmy Pearsall, another man who became a baseball legend, less for his athletic performances than his bizarre antics between plays and off the field. Lerner explains how bipolar disorder was Pearsall's demon. Another completely new story involves the experimental treatment for Parkinson's disease the famous photographer Margaret Bourke White pursued. Arthur Ashe's AIDS, Steve McQueen's cancer and Rita Hayworth's Alzheimers all take up chapters in this book, which is like all of Lerner's work, painstakingly researched and engagingly written. The celebrities in this book are fortunate to have someone of Lerner's skill and compassion tell the stories of their illness.

Dr. Lerner's book grabbed my attention right from the first pages about Lou Gehrig and lasted till the very last chapter. This is definitely not a book that should have a limited audience. I am not in the medical profession and was completely taken by Dr. Lerner's accounts of the histories of these public figures and their respective and varied illnesses. Although the book is written by a doctor, Dr. Lerner presents the facts in a completely unbiased manner, calling into question the conduct of all of the players in these stores - the doctors, the patients, their families, the press, the public, and more. Credit and criticism are given out as appropriate. The book reads seamlessly providing the reader with an incredible insight into the evolution of modern medicine and increased public access to the lives of the famous over the decades. Dr. Lerner is a brilliant writer and I highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in history, medicine, media, pop culture or sports. I read the book on vacation and my 12 year old son and 15 year old daughter took turns reading portions of the book as well.

Barron Lerner's book is fascinating and insightful. Lerner is a wonderful writer. I was hooked from the beginning as I read the Lou Gherig story, which I thought I knew , but I didn't.
Each story carries the reader along and provides insights into our culture that are important for us all to know.

This is a thoughtful and well researched book. It is far from an exploitive tell all about celebrity deaths. Rather, it uses key well-known personalities to illuminate the evolution of public and media driven medical thought. How does public perception of disease and medicine change over time? Our understandings (and misunderstandings) of medical issues have been affected by the foibles and treatment of celebrities, to the point where they are now "experts." Sadly, the book discusses the self education behind Lorenzo's Oil, a wholehearted attempt by parents of a child affected by an orphan disease to stimulate research and development. I wonder what the author would say now about "experts" like Jenny McCarthy and Tom Cruise, whose evidence is either missing or negligent.

i typically enjoy fiction but this book is so good that i stay up too late reading it each night because it's so interesting. it's a fascinating topic. would make a great holiday gift for pretty much anyone in the family.