Tuesday's Laugh at death

Memorial Monday - Two Presidents

Clarissa Harlowe Barton
Dec. 25, 1821 - April 12, 1912
Teacher, Nurse, Humanitarian
Founder and first president of the American Red Cross

at Find a Grave

- - -

Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Jan. 30, 1882 - Apr. 12, 1945
Thirty-second President of the United States

at Find a Grave
FDR Home, National Historical Site

Every Tuesday, let's try to laugh at/with death.

Photo: Sylvain Gaboury/Film Magic
from New York magazine

Paul Rudnick is a funny guy. He writes regularly for the New Yorker magazine, often contributing to the weekly humor column, 'Shouts and Murmurs,' which is where I generally encounter his work. He's also written several plays and movie screenplays.

I just finished his latest book, I Shudder: And Other Reactions to Life, Death, and New Jersey. I really needed it. It's a quick read, but if you still don't have enough time, this snippet from page 242 provides a worthwhile taste:

Here's what I know about death and grieving: None of it makes any sense, although I will always cherish the words of a woman who spoke at a friend's memorial, and who began her affectionate remarks by saying, "God knows, Ed was cheap." Here's what I know about New Jersey: If you're a citizen, be proud of it. I know a guy from Piscataway who would tell people that he was from the more posh Princeton, which was forty-five minutes away. I always wanted to tell him, Darling, you're still from New Jersey. Who are you kidding?

And here's what I know about love: Don't let go.

Memorial Monday - Jerome "Jerry" Brudos

Jan. 31, 1939 - Mar. 29, 2006

Known as 'The Shoe Fetish Killer.' A native of Webster, South Dakota, he was a former electrician, who became serial kiler, and later one of Oregon's most notorious inmates...Although he was convicted of 3 murders, he confessed to four, and was suspected of at least 6 others...Brudos died at the age of 67, at the Oregon State Prison, from colon cancer.

from Find a Grave

photo added by K

My selections for this somewhat-regular feature are pretty much made at random. I have no idea what I'm going to find whenever I start looking.

Most of the entries at Find a Grave feature people from the fields of politics, professional sports, the military, art, and literature, and while I respect them and their accomplishments, I'm more interested in learning about others who may not be well-known, or whose deaths prompt me to think about things that I may not otherwise have thought about.

I recently featured two women who were murdered, and today's anniversary for the death of a man who murdered many women reminds me of the first principle of the code for ethical practice by nurses, as articulated by the American Nurses Association:

The nurse, in all professional relationships, practices with compassion and respect for the inherent dignity, worth and uniqueness of every individual, unrestricted by considerations of social or economic status, personal attributes, or the nature of health problems.

I'm not saying it's easy, or perhaps even always possible, to accept that every human being has the right to skilled care whenever it's needed. But maybe once any of us starts to draw a line, where do we stop?

Memorial Monday (on Tuesday) - Barney B. Clark, D.D.S

Jan. 21, 1921 - Mar. 23, 1983

He was the first fully artificial heart transplant recipient, having recieved (sic) it in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1982, and died 112 days post transplant.

From Find a Grave

Photo added by Ron Moody

From the biographical sketch included in the description of the Barney B. Clark papers held by the University of Utah Marriott Library Special Collections:

In June of 1954 (Clark) was informed by his physician that he had contracted a case of hepatitis. Unknown to him, this was to be the first in a long line of illnesses that would plague is (sic) life from time to time. Due to his smoking habit, he eventually contracted emphysema (May 1978); and then there was the idiopathic cardiomyopathy which deteriorated the muscle in his heart.

In 1980, Dr. Clark was referred to Dr. Jeffery Anderson for treatment. Dr. Anderson tried to manage his condition medically. The treatment included administration of digoxin, furosemide with potassium supplementation, warfarin, captopril, prednisone, azathioprine, and a trial of the investigational new inotropic drug amrinone.

Unfortunately, all of these drugs proved unsuccessful in preventing further cardiac decomposition.

Dr. Clark was first introduced to the artificial heart in 1982 when he went to visit the animal research barn, and he went home to Seattle to decide on the surgery with his family. But (his wife) Una Loy knew right from the start that he was going to do it. Although he did want to help advance the medical research, what he really wanted was a much better quality of life than he had been experiencing the last few years. He truly believed that this artificial heart would give that to him; and it probably would have, if he hadn't been suffering from so many other problems. He was admitted to the University of Utah Medical Center for the transplant at the end of November in 1982. He signed the consent form, required by the Institutional Review Board (twice), and then due to complications, he went into surgery earlier than expected.

Even though the operation was successful, they had a lot of problems at the start.

First, he developed an air leak in his lung that had to be corrected surgically. Then, he suffered from seizures of an undetermined nature. Next, there was also a broken valve on the left ventricle of the artificial heart that had to be repaired. And finally, due to the necessary anticoagulant, he suffered from terrible nose bleeds which also had to be fixed surgically.

Even though preparations were made for him to go home at the end of April, he never made it. He suffered from aspiration pneumonia in early March which sent him back into the ICU, and he never left it again.

On March 21st, Dr. Clark suffered from reduced renal function that induced a high fever. And on March 23rd, he suffered from multiple organ system failure that caused a circulatory collapse which killed him at 10:02 that night. It wasn't the artificial heart that killed him, it was everything else that was going wrong with him at that time.

Evidence-based opposition

Yeah, OK - that was too easy. But it's been over a week, and I've got to post something.

I'm working on some stuff and will be back with it soon.

Thanks to Fightin' Digby.

For a contrast in both substance and thinking, see Scott Lemieux.

More fishin'

This time with my bare hands...

Be back soon.