When Illness Goes Public

Celebrity Patients and How We Look at Medicine

Barron H. Lerner

• Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Year: 2006
• eBook ISBN: 9780801889554
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: North American History

Outstanding Academic Title, 2007, Choice magazine

Steve McQueen had cancer and was keeping it secret. Then the media found out, and soon all of America knew. McQueen's high profile changed forever the way the public perceived a dreaded disease.

In When Illness Goes Public, Barron H. Lerner describes the evolution of celebrities' illnesses from private matters to stories of great public interest. Famous people who have become symbols of illness include Lou Gehrig, the first "celebrity patient"; Rita Hayworth, whose Alzheimer disease went undiagnosed for years; and Arthur Ashe, who courageously went public with his AIDS diagnosis before the media could reveal his secret. And then there are private citizens like Barney Clark, the first recipient of a permanent artificial heart, and Lorenzo Odone, whose neurological disorder became the subject of a Hollywood film.

While celebrity illnesses have helped to inform patients about treatment options, ethical controversies, and scientific proof, the stories surrounding these illnesses have also assumed mythical characteristics that may be misleading. Marrying great storytelling to an exploration of the intersection of science, journalism, fame, and legend, this book is a groundbreaking contribution to our understanding of health and illness.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgment
• Introduction
• Chapter 1. The First Modern Patient: The Public Death of Lou Gehrig
• Chapter 2. Crazy or Just High-Strung? Jimmy Piersall’s Mental Illness
• Chapter 3. Picturing Illness: Margaret Bourke-White Publicizes Parkinson’s Disease
• Chapter 4. Politician as Patient: John Foster Dulles Battles Cancer
• Chapter 5. No Stone Unturned: The Fight to Save Brian Piccolo’s Life
• Chapter 6. Persistent Patient: Morris Abram as Experimental Subject
• Chapter 7. Unconventional Healing: Steve McQueen’s Mexican Journey
• Chapter 8. Medicine’s Blind Spots: The Delayed Diagnosis of Rita Hayworth
• Chapter 9. Hero or Victim? Barney Clark and the Technological Imperative
• Chapter 10. “You Murdered My Daughter”: Libby Zion and the Reform of Medical Education
• Chapter 11. Patient Activism Goes Hollywood: How America Fought AIDS
• Chapter 12. The Last Angry Man and Woman: Lorenzo Odone’s Parents Fight the Medical Establishment
• Conclusion
• Notes
• Index