Myrl Jeffcoat myrlj@jps.net

22 mars, 2005 10:27

Connie Chung Disease

When several women told their plastic surgeons about their silicone-related problems, the doctors just made jokes about them; one told his patient she had “Connie Chung disease,” referring to the TV broadcast in December 1990 that catapulted silicone disease onto the national agenda. But this surgeon is not making jokes anymore; several of his implant patents are now suing him.

After Ms. Chung’s segment, Sally Jesse Raphael and many other talk-show hosts rushed to cover silicone implants. Most of these segments have been human interest stories, however; there has been insufficient time and focus devoted to hard-core facts and medical science. And many “news bites,” while serving to bring the silicone implant issue under scrutiny, have also served to tease or frighten viewers with incomplete or mistaken information.

Soon after the Chung special, testimony before Congress on silicone disease by several experts, including Frank Vasey, garnered surprisingly little interest from reporters, none of whom sought further comments. However, Dr. Vasey’s five minutes of testimony ended up on CNN, broadcast across the country, and women were watching; the phone at the USF Department of Rheumatology has been ringing with cries for help from implant victims ever since. New patients must now wait over a year to see him. Page 43 – retyped from “The Silicone Breast Implant Controversy” by Frank Vasey, MD. And Josh Feldstein