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It is amazing how celebrities can impact the amount of screenings for many diseases when they come forward about their illnesses. This was brought up in a recent edition of the American Medical News. In 2005, the Journal of the National Cancer Institutes found that at least one-fourth of the public who had seen or heard a celebrity endorsement said that the endorsement made them more likely to undergo mammography, PSA testing, or sigmoidoscopy or colonoscopy The public is very much attuned to these people and devour the personal information they share. Betty Ford influenced the use of mammograms. Rudy Guiliani influenced prostate screening. Katie Couric influenced colonoscopy screening. Our celebrity focused culture is easily influenced by these people both for the good and the bad. Obviously, Elizabeth Edwards and Tony Snow are examples of the former. Anorectic magazine models are examples of the latter.
What really scares me is the true power these people have. I can educate patients all I want and still not get them to go for the colonoscopy. “You’re going to put what? Up where? No you ain’t!” I recommend some blood tests to young man, mammograms to elderly women, and the need for lead testing to the parents of toddler. Sometimes I get them to buy into it and sometimes I don’t. The problem is that I am not a celebrity. This brings up the negative side to the “celebrity phenomenon”. Many patients want screenings done even though it is not appropriate at their age, appropriate for their situation or appropriate for their insurance. In other words, “over screening” can lead to more problems. An example would be those full-body CT scans which has lead to many false-positives which causes excessive anxiety and needless procedures. Explaining this to patients isn’t easy and guess who becomes the bad guy when they are alerted that the screening is either not recommended or won’t be paid for by their insurance company? Me, the family doctor, that’s who.
I predict the best celebrity endorsement in the future will come from an actor with Munchausen’s Syndrome. What a brilliant coup that would be. Of course, he would never admit his disorder but instead be exploited by every medical foundation out there. Who will question him? It would be years later that anyone ever asks, “Hey, why is that dude still alive?” Of course, being a Munchausen and an actor, he will convince the world how he was saved from disease X only to get disease Y. Imagine a narcissistic actor with Munchausen’s. What more perfect combination could there be? And who would have the guts to call him on it? No one. Theoretically, this could go on forever. He would be a never-ending perpetual disease-pitching machine; a real life example of a Transformer. The question is would he would turn out to be a super-hero or super-villain? That is the same question we are asking of every celebrity today (can you say Tom Cruise?). It’s funny how some things never change.
What really scares me is the true power these people have. I can educate patients all I want and still not get them to go for the colonoscopy. “You’re going to put what? Up where? No you ain’t!” I recommend some blood tests to young man, mammograms to elderly women, and the need for lead testing to the parents of toddler. Sometimes I get them to buy into it and sometimes I don’t. The problem is that I am not a celebrity. This brings up the negative side to the “celebrity phenomenon”. Many patients want screenings done even though it is not appropriate at their age, appropriate for their situation or appropriate for their insurance. In other words, “over screening” can lead to more problems. An example would be those full-body CT scans which has lead to many false-positives which causes excessive anxiety and needless procedures. Explaining this to patients isn’t easy and guess who becomes the bad guy when they are alerted that the screening is either not recommended or won’t be paid for by their insurance company? Me, the family doctor, that’s who.
I predict the best celebrity endorsement in the future will come from an actor with Munchausen’s Syndrome. What a brilliant coup that would be. Of course, he would never admit his disorder but instead be exploited by every medical foundation out there. Who will question him? It would be years later that anyone ever asks, “Hey, why is that dude still alive?” Of course, being a Munchausen and an actor, he will convince the world how he was saved from disease X only to get disease Y. Imagine a narcissistic actor with Munchausen’s. What more perfect combination could there be? And who would have the guts to call him on it? No one. Theoretically, this could go on forever. He would be a never-ending perpetual disease-pitching machine; a real life example of a Transformer. The question is would he would turn out to be a super-hero or super-villain? That is the same question we are asking of every celebrity today (can you say Tom Cruise?). It’s funny how some things never change.
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