SIXTY DAYS WITHOUT SLEEP

Sad about Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston. All that money and being a Druggie

 

Talent doesn't exclude stupid...

 

Ain't that the truth

 

I don't blame Michael Jackson so much.
He had the financial resources to expect much better medical care. Or even without huge financial resources ethically his doctor(s) should of acted with a much higher degree of professionalism and ethics.

A good/competent/ethical doctor does not provide those drugs or that "therapy" even if Mr. Jackson is requesting it. I'd much rather be fired or dismissed by Mr. Jackson as his doctor, then remain as his doctor but allow him access to those drugs and routine therapy that was slowly killing him.

This type of happening may not be all that uncommon within Hollywood or at the higher levels wealth and notoriety, but people can be self destructive for many reasons, but we generally hold our doctors to a code of ethics that I think Jacksons doctors obviously did not meet.

 

At what point does Michael Jackson look in the mirror and say, look at me, I need help, I need an intervenous injection to sleep, best I get the best DR to help me. At what point does his family intervene, his doctors, his staff, his manager, his friends. I believe people must help themselves. But come on did the Jackson Family not suspect how profoundly far this man has fallen? Evidently many people knew about Jacksons issues, but non stopped him. His Dr was in financial dire straights and needed the outrageous monthly pay check to be Michael personal physician. One would think that he speak to another Dr and review the case and make a recommendation on a strict recovery plan or resign. Now he is in over his head with legal and board problems. Michael should have been checked into a rehab place long ago. Now he is dead.

His sister and brothers are all after the fact wanting to help. Come on they knew what's up he was a Drug Addict. Get him help. Sad day in the Jackson household.

Now his daughter attempted suicide and she has issues. Can the Grandmother help? She is very old.

Many issues with entertainment people. Look at Charlie Sheen was that guy on a bender or what? The whole world knew it. Charlie thought he could manage a bowl of coke and Porno gals in hotel suites. Year right. Lindsey Lohan is she out of control? Sad day.

 

MJ went shopping for doctors to give him what he wanted... if you didn't give him what he wanted - he shopped around until he got one that would.

 

I'm relatively sure that's true, but it doesn't change my opinion. As I said " I'd much rather be fired or dismissed by Mr. Jackson as his doctor, then remain as his doctor but allow him access to those drugs and routine therapy that was slowly killing him.".

The truth is "human beings" don't always choose behaviors or life styles that are in their own best interest. This clearly may of been the case in Michael Jackson's situation. But I still view it more as a failure of his doctors and the those doctors he chose to surround himself with.

The general standard we expect from doctors is that they provide information and therapy to improve the health and well being of an individual, be they Michael Jackson....or Joe The Plumber.

I realize that Michael Jackson was probably seeking and desiring things that were not in his best interest to have or partake of...I also realize that with his wealth and in his environment it probably was inevitable that he would find "someone" to provide him with those things.

But I expect frailties and imperfections from human's being human beings...evidently the doctor(s) providing Mr. Jackson with this therapy were legal and licensed "doctors". Therefore I put the onus of the failure on them.

You are correct that nothing may of made a difference. That with a self destructive course Michael Jackson put himself at risk. But I don't necessarily make the assumption that NOBODY could of made a difference. Hypothetically, perhaps Michael Jackson dismissed 10 doctors in row, because they wouldn't provide him with the drugs and therapy he thought he wanted. Well good for those 10 doctors. But also hypothetically, how do we know that maybe the 11th doctor to sit down with him and explain the dangerous course he was on....might not of finally reached him?

There was something horribly wrong with the lifestyle Michael Jackson embraced. But at least as equally wrong was the care and support of this lifestyle that was provided by his doctors. The difference being Michael Jackson might not really of known better. His doctors should of....

​

 

I went without sleep for a period of time. It was torture.

 

When you get in the presence of someone very famous you tend to act differently. Perhaps that was the 900LB gorilla in the room between Michael and his DR. He just did not want to lose his connection with the star. However his failure to draw the line as Dr. and Patient lead to his death.

 

So did I. It was around 2010, just before the release of the Gen 3 Prius. Hours and sleepless hours of Prius Chat. Long, never ending threads speculating as to the grade of gasoline the new Prius would require. Hours and hours at Youtube watching comparative video reviews between The Gen 3 Prius and the yet to be released new Honda Insight.

It was hell.....

 

Art imitates life.

 

Eh? I think you're off by a year. Gen 3 Prius was introduced January 09 (but not available for sale until ~May 09). I was one of the lucky folks invited to Prius Connection Detroit Photos | PriusChat. It was an awesome event!

Yeah... there was definitely little in the way of info but there were a few leaked accurate photos (of the interior, I think). Most of the things we heard in real time were surprises to us (well, at least to me) and I couldn't have predicted most of the new features/enhancements.

 

Show me a Corporate workaholic and I'll write you a tragedy.

 

I stand corrected. But the details are spot on. Just look at my Prius Chat join date. I started to research my next car, and learn about Hybrids and Prius around that time. You're right it was 2009, but actually I got involved months before the actual release. I was really torn at the time over getting one of the last remaining new 2009 Gen 2's or waiting for the release of the Gen 3. In the long run, I ended up psyching myself out and doing neither. But no regrets, I enjoyed my 3 years of Honda Fit ownership, and I didn't have to deal with the first year, new model bugs.

Yes, I'm off by a year, but the details are the same....the build up to the actual release, IMO was actually a fun time to become introduced to Hybrids and Prius Chat. With the almost simultaneous release of The New Honda Insight, the speculation, build up and general excitement over what both those vehicles would be, was amazing.

I actually did spend a lot of sleepless hours in Prius Chat and around the web trying to ride the wave of what the next Generation Prius and the "Prius Killer" Honda Insight would be all about. I really wonder if in the coming years the build up to the Gen 4 Prius will be as dynamic.

At least now, whatever happens with the Gen 4, I have my Gen 3 Prius. So I can just sit back. If the Gen 4 is Incredible, which I hope it is, then I can at least be driving a Prius for a few years and think about getting a Gen 4, as it's replacement but I won't have to worry about the decision to get a Prius. I've infiltrated the cult.

 

I am a corporate workaholic. I don't bother me a bit.

 

I once did about four contiguous months on about two daily hours of sleep. I was involved with someone who had just had a kind of scary medical diagnosis, and I saw there could come a point where she'd need backup from me and I really needed to get ahead of several backlogged demands on me so I'd be ready for that.

Shortly afterward (oddly, only after I'd reached the targets and started sleeping regularly again), I had a collection of the weirdest physical symptoms. They included parts of me swelling up that had no business swelling, one being an optic nerve that took with it about 1/3 of the vision in that eye.

All the swellings eventually went down, and the vision eventually came back, and none of the doctors and specialists involved ever pointed to a conclusive cause, but one of them did pointedly ask me, "so, why were you doing four months on two daily hours of sleep?".

I haven't pulled anything like that since, and none of that stuff has happened again (he said, knocking wood).

-Chap