FEAT DAILY NEWSLETTER
Sacramento, California
February 16, 2001 Search
The Mean Spirit of NBC’s ER Episode
Commentary and Letters
It is perhaps, the most overused cliché in medical
television drama.
The patient lies motionless on a platform in surgery or
the emergency room surrounded by medical types in high drama. Everyone is
racing to resuscitate a cardiac arrest.
“Clear!” shouts the rescuer.
Paddles are slapped down on the victim’s chest. The lifeless body arch in response to the thumping
sound of electricity supplied with a jolt.
The pulse is checked. Nothing.
Again, “Clear” is shouted and another jolt is hopefully
applied, this time with some success. “I’m getting a pulse!” shouts a tech or
nurse. Cautious sighs of relief are
passed around to everyone in room, and also to the loved ones observing from a
distance. Most of the time the viewer
can guess whether the patient is going to make it or not depending on the context
of the plot.
On last night’s episode of NBC’s ER, this cliché played
out again with a handsome blond-hair, blue-eyed, nourished, four year old boy
with morbid complications from measles.
The mother explains that she intentionally did not have her children
inoculated out of her concern over possible vaccine side effects. Autism is specifically mentioned. The boy gets his heart restarted, but he
remains unconscious and motionless.
“Is he ok?” asks the frightened mother. “Yea, he’s doing fine,” the doctor
sarcastically sneers back without looking at her. Portraying the mother as suburban and articulate highlights the
contempt. This is not white trash
operating from ignorance. No sir, this
is one of those educated moms who gets her information on vaccines and autism
from questionable sources on the Internet and not the family pediatrician.
Every word of dialog that addresses the mother from that point on is expressed
with utter contempt. The writers could
have added the phrase “you stupid, irresponsible twit” to end of every sentence
spoken to her. The boy dies shortly
thereafter. You couldn’t make it any more heavy handed without having the ER
set morphing into a Smack Down Wrestling event.
Considering that this publication is the most-read,
highest profile independent source of information on autism and vaccines on the
Internet, the program’s references are to you, our readers, and to us, the FEAT
newsletter. We had a role in killing
that beautiful, innocent little boy, is the implication.
The mean spiritedness of NBC’s ER message can only add
heat, not light to the public conversation now going on about the safety of
vaccines. The desire for parents to
make informed decisions about their children’s health should be encourage, and
not vilified with comic book theatrics like the ER production.
The autism community demonstrates every day its commitment
to a fair handed and competent education of ourselves on the issue of vaccines and
their safety.
With the incidence of autism being at its historical high,
it is only a matter of time before someone close in the family of an ER writer
or producer has an autistic child. It
is only a matter of time before someone in the family of a programming executive
at NBC gets autism. And when that happens
we suggest that you avoid your own spin and theatrical productions; it won’t
help you much. We suggest you come here
to get a balanced presentation of the facts on vaccines and autism.
When you come you will find a responsible commitment to
the facts, and not theatrics and scare tactics, if you read this newsletter.
You will find that we do not
sneer sarcastically at families who suddenly find themselves with disasters
like autism or any of the other possible side effects of vaccines, no matter
where you come from, hometowns or Hollywood.
We won’t bash you - simply because at the least, you have now become one
of us. It’s just a matter of time.
Lenny Schafer
* * *
Yesterday, we suggested that viewers contact NBC and let
them know of your reactions to this ER episode.
Go to http://www.nbc.com. On the right side there
is a scroll box where you select “your favorite show”. Click on “ER” and then scroll to the bottom
section entitled “Contact Us”, and click on “Email ER”.
We also asked that you send us a copy of your
message.
contradiction of
ER Show star Anthony Edwards and character Dr. Green, being
connected
to
this production.
Edwards is a high-profile supporter of autism
research and
works closely with Cure Autism Now (CAN). Often it is asked, “Why
didn’t he
say something to someone about this awful presentation of
parents
concerned
about autism?”
Jon Shestack of CAN provides following explanation of Edward’s
role.
Letters addressed to NBC follow.
I have spoken with Anthony Edwards who did not agree nor
endorse that storyline and was in fact distressed by the patronizing dismissal
of family concerns about vaccine safety. Evidence of this is that Tony’s, character,
Dr. Green, did not participate in that story.
The idea for the episode rests totally with John Wells who
is the executive producer and creator of the show and who basically gets to do
what he wants. That he was influenced by his pediatrician, the American Academy
of Pediatricians, the National Institute of Child Health, and vaccine manufacturers
is possible and even likely but totally beyond Tony’s sphere of influence.
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* * *
First the vaccine commercial with the episode (who say’s advertisers
don’t pay for Hollywood scripts), then the worst case of scare tactics I have
ever seen on TV. ER and those associated with that program should be ashamed of
themselves. Bought and paid for to the highest bidder. At the very least they
should disclose in the credits the names of the scriptwriters from Merck who
wrote this fiction.
First Hollywood makes “Rain Man” and tells us it’s about
autism, later we find out the character the story is based in part, on someone
who is not even autistic! Now tonight
Hollywood does it again, this time serving as the mouthpiece of the vaccine manufacturers
and their cronies in the public health department telling us about autism and
MMR, nothing based on science mind you, only scare tactics designed to coerce
parents into vaccinating their children at all costs.
Hollywood should stick to what it does best: making
cartoons.
Rick Rollens
* * *
WOW!! I can’t
believe what I just saw on ER tonight.
Did you do your homework? What a
pathetic display of misinformation. Do
you have any idea of how many families are touched by horrible reactions to
vaccination (including death)? If your
actors were aware of the truth would they agree to portray this information in
the light it was presented? I find the timing
of this program quite ironic with all the controversy over the validity and
safety of our current vaccination program.
I sure hope you are prepared to present the other side of this story.
A funny thing happened to me about a month ago. I was at one of our local elementary schools
to do a presentation. During the two
hours I was there two students presented to the school nurse, one with mumps
and one with measles. Both were
vaccinated. What’s up with that?
You lost a viewer
Yvonne Wood, D.C.
* * *
ER should know better than to take such a controversial
stand on the vaccine-autism connection when the evidence is still rolling in. Despite difficulty in obtaining funding and
resistance from their colleagues, several doctors and researchers are getting
some answers—and if these answers point to a connection in any way to vaccines,
you may want to pull last night’s ER show out of your rerun schedule.
* * *
Parents of children of with Autism are accustomed to humiliation. For thirty years, mothers were blamed and
humiliated for causing their children’s illness. These days parents face the humiliation of stares and comments
from the misinformed public as we go about the concerns of daily living. We are humiliated as we beg the medical
community to turn their attention to this long neglected area of medical
research. We are humiliated as we beg
doctors to look at our children’s physical as well as behavioral symptoms. We are humiliated as we beg educators to
teach rather than baby-sit our children.
Last night you ensured that thousands of parents would
continue to be humiliated, when you dismissed the possible nexus between
vaccines and autism and, by example, help make it publicly acceptable to treat parents
who have concerns about vaccines with contempt and disdain.
I challenge you, NBC, to do better. Because of Anthony Edward’s support for
autism research, we parents have looked to ER as a place of comfort and
advocacy. Why not take a stand for our
children, by creating an episode where regressive autism and what really
happens to parents and children on this journey are depicted in a realistic
way? And, having profited from
dismissing our children during sweeps month, why not share those profits by
making a generous donation toward Autism research?
It is
not too late to put things right here.
Heather Coburn Snyder
* * *
As a faithful viewer of not only ER but of NBC, as well as
a teacher and student in the field of autism, I was quite disturbed by last nights
episode depicting a child who contracted measles after the parents chose to not
vaccinate their children.
I am not convinced by research or parent reports in
regards to the MMR vaccination/autism connection however I am open to a link
and/or connection.
I generally find your show to be fair and unbiased in the
sense that it shows both sides of a controversy. This episode was in no way unbiased or diplomatic.
I also take great insult in the incompleteness of the representation
of the MMR controversy. If you had done
further research, or allotted enough TV time to the issue, you would have realized
that a vast majority of the teacher/parent population do not oppose the MMR
vaccination all together. What is
opposed, is the methodology in which it is administered as well as the toxins
(such as mercury) unnecessarily used in the formula.
At a time when NBC shows like ER, West Wing and Will &
Grace are exposing major issues and showing political and social responsibility
I can understand a “slip” in judgment.
However, this slip has caused marginalizing in a community already
stretched in its resources and supports.
Jessica Mason
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Lenny Schafer, Editor
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Sleith Kay
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Editor@feat.org
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