The Atkins Disappearing Act

Considering the whopping HUGE headlines lately about Atkins and his weight at death, I expected to find at least some news on what I read this morning. Unfortunately it was in my print copy of the Wall Street Jounal (section B3 - yeah reporting it in the Marketplace section), and I can find no other news source online right now that is carrying it.

However, according to the WSJ - Dr. Atkins weighed approximately 195 pounds, fluctuating within 10 pounds during the last 3 years of his life. Hospital records show he weighed 195 pounds on admission to the New York hospital where he died. He was in a coma for 8 days prior to his death, which is when he started retaining fluid, leading to the seemly excessive weight at his death. (it even makes me wonder if the scale was correct or if it was read correctly... just a thought)

So, it seems that Dr. Atkins was NOT morbidly obese at his death, he was possibly slightly over his ideal weight. Am I surprised that this is getting zero attention? No not at all. After all, it doesn't fit with the PETA type agenda of the newspapers.

I am not an Atkins dieter - I don't care if people want to pursue this diet to lose weight - if it works, more power to them. But it once again shows that the media will jump all over a "scandal" and then quietly disappear when it turns out that they were wrong. I will give the WSJ credit for printing the story and giving it one of the little front page blurbs. It's the other media that have been so hot and heavy to make this into a front page screed... so where are they?

I sincerely hope that Mrs. Atkins will sue the doctor who stole the medical records and the group Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (a misnomer if I ever heard one!) for their parts in releasing private medical records. Too bad she can't make all of them publicize their medical records on the front page of every newspaper in the country.

Comments

[pam]

I had no idea PETA was even involved until I read it on a blog! [Does that say ANYthing about me? ;> ]

[Jack]

Throwing stones at the famous always sells newspapers and gets eyeballs watching the TV. It's a sad part of human nature. What I think has changed is that there is less and less a sense of responsibility to society as a whole. I'm not sure what the root cause of the decline in the feeling of obligation towards socially responsible behavior, but it's not limited to the news media, it's pervasive, ranging from politicians, to government workers, to lawyers, to doctors, to the average citizen.

Whoa, got off-topic a bit there. Sorry...

[Laughing Wolf]

Hear Hear! I hope she takes them for everything they have.