When Research Goes Badly

My skin crawled for hours.

I don't know why, but it still amazes me that when I think I've come up with something that doesn't exist in this world, it invariably turns out I'm wrong. I suppose it's the case of - if you're thinking it, you're already behind the curve - at least as far as the natural world goes. There are times when play research or wrighting has been ahead of the curve too - like by a couple of days or several months and those instances are perhaps more disturbing.

At any rate: this time I thought - it's just not medically possible. Wrong. Last night My Shocking Story on TLC (home to all those home renovation/house flipping shows) featured a story about this man (WARNING: do not click this link if you get "The Feeling." You will not be pleased.) The program was upsetting on so many levels - but primary among them is the invasiveness of the surgeries this young man endured and the media circus that surrounded the entire event. At one point, the Indonesian government shows up at Dede's house and takes him away in an ambulance. He is forced to undergo care that is in direct opposition to an American physician's who initially designed treatment for him. Then, of course, the TV special itself is exploitive in its psuedo-documentary way.