Privacy, cont'd

I published the previous post too soon.

Last year, when I was informed of the trickiness and potential severity of my situation, I was given a choice of the two medical centers who were equipped to handle my case. UCLA, or UC Irvine.
UCLA, plainly speaking, is 'The Shit' when it comes to medical centers in southern California. UC Irvine, in Orange County, is just as good, but lacks the imprimatur of Hollywood stardom.

I chose Irvine, saying to the referring physician "UCLA? Isn't that where celebrities go to die? Their medical records sold to TMZ? No thanks. I'm going Irvine."

Lead in aside:
Floating around, and seen on TV, is the *'last photo' of Michael Jackson.

It shows Michael strapped to a gurney with a respirator over his face as he was loaded into the ambulance outside his home.
Obviously a cell-phone capture. Also released: a photo of the life support monitor inside the ambulance.

I don't know for what price the EMT sold out his patient to the media, but any media outlet who displayed these photos should be ashamed of themselves.
And the EMT should be dragged off, disemboweled and gibbeted.

It's a shame that in a man's last dying moment, some pathetic, 15-minute, small dick mutherfuker in a position of trust finds it necessary to betray that trust.

But, such is the culture of UCLA Medical Center, where the celebrities go to heal and die.

They got some issues with their professionalism at that place. Seriously, the admin of that hospital needs to do some real sterilization of their own. What is happening there in regards to patient confidentiality is uncalled for, and inexcusable.

But I also place the blame on the media outlets and tabloid vultures, whose combined actions all too often blur the distinctions between what is 'news' and what is just trashy sensationalism.

(* If you are curious about the image in question, that image that nobody has a 'right' to see, I won't post it for you. Instead, go here. )