Radio Talk Show Host Calls Nurses"Kevorkian Fan Club"!!

SICU Queen · Dec 10, 2007

WOW!! How ignorant. :angryfire

I will send an email.

psalm51 · Dec 10, 2007

done! (see below)

[color=#808000]your news talk guy, kevin fisher, is wrong!!! let him walk in our shoes awhile -- and he will see the issue from a totally different perspective. as karma would have it, he may have to live it -- and beg for a do not resuscitate order.

[color=#808000]i am a nurse of going on 40 years, masters prepared. we are very intelligent and the public is not aware of how many lives we save! do you think patients wait to crash or code only when their doctor is on the unit? who do you think saves these people who are crashing or coding? we are not members of the "kavorkian fan club"!

[color=#808000]resuscitative efforts often only prolong suffering!

[color=#808000]no one person or profession should be associated with kevorkian. read his bio! he would go to the morgue, take pictures of the faces of the dead, and remove their eyes!!! he was fired from several hospitals in several states. weird huh??? the only reason his name is so infamous is because the media used him as a vehicle for a media feeding frenzy on the issue of physician assisted suicide -- not dnr!

[color=#808000]kevin fisher, out of ignorance, has insulted the profession of nursing everywhere -- even in pennsylvania. may karma bite him in the ass!

RN1989 · Dec 10, 2007

I find it funny that people have these kinds of attitudes about people and death yet they think nothing of having their cat euthanized when their cat pees outside the litterbox (and the people usually just don't want to clean the box often enough). Yet again this is just an indication that the general public has no idea what nurses do. I remember years ago when I went to a party with my husband. One of the women there tried to make small talk. She knew I was a nurse but didn't know where I worked. The first thing she said after I told her that I was an ICU nurse was "Wow! You must have to deal with a lot of dying people." After discussing things with her she STILL didn't get it that ICU nurses keep more people alive than die in the unit.

People only hear things that agree with their thinking. If it makes them ponder and possible change their way of thinking about things, they don't want to hear it because they don't like finding out that they are wrong.

This "shock jock" of the airwaves needs ratings in order to stay on the air - who know if his comments were his own feelings or what his producers made him say. Comments like that are bound to stir people up and improve the show's ratings.

Simplepleasures · Dec 10, 2007

It may be as you say, but the people listening to this trash talk about OUR professsion actually may take this as gospel.Plus it was SO SO insulting and demeaning to our NOBLE profession, his news program director needs to know he went TOO FAR and he as well as other shock jocks need to be slapped down professionally for this type of infraction on public airways.

RN1989 · Dec 10, 2007

Yes, it was inappropriate and demeaning. Emails to this guy are likely to do NOTHING but incite him further. He already had snotty comments to the people that called in to contradict him.

Communication to the station manager and the station owner would get you much farther. Particularly if you had enough people who were willing to say that they would boycott the advertisers who were paying for the show with their commercials. Money talks these days and no one really cares what is right or wrong as long as they get their money. Threaten the station's livelihood, write to the advertisers who paid for that program and tell them what they paid for - a diatribe of meaningless yet harmful baloney about nurses. Call the local paper and see if you can get a reporter to write a story about this guy's comments and what nurses really do, including the importance of DNRs, etc.

Take definitive action that will get the idiot's and the public's attention. Otherwise you are getting angry but won't have changed anything.

Simplepleasures · Dec 10, 2007

Yes, it was inappropriate and demeaning. Emails to this guy are likely to do NOTHING but incite him further. He already had snotty comments to the people that called in to contradict him.
Communication to the station manager and the station owner would get you much farther. Particularly if you had enough people who were willing to say that they would boycott the advertisers who were paying for the show with their commercials. Money talks these days and no one really cares what is right or wrong as long as they get their money. Threaten the station's livelihood, write to the advertisers who paid for that program and tell them what they paid for - a diatribe of meaningless yet harmful baloney about nurses. Call the local paper and see if you can get a reporter to write a story about this guy's comments and what nurses really do, including the importance of DNRs, etc.
Take definitive action that will get the idiot's and the public's attention. Otherwise you are getting angry but won't have changed anything.

The email I gave is the Program Directors email, not the shock jocks.I will be calling the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal. Use the link I provided, go to "On the Air, then podcasting, then click on the Jay Weber Show", scroll down to the section that talks about "resuscitaion in public school", to hear the show. I will look up the station managers email.I dont think we should just dismiss this as a shock jock vying for ratings.

FireStarterRN, BSN, RN · Dec 10, 2007

Talk radio is, by it's nature, inflammatory. The more attention, negative or positive, he gets, the more he wins.

Unfortunately, the public hasn't been well educated on the dark side of medicine and it's dismal realities. They watch medical shows and see miracles, and many, unfortunately, consider withdrawl of extraordinary care akin to euthanasia.

The public needs more education. Unfortunately, extremists, like this man, use their public podium to exploit fears and prejudices for their own personal agendas.

leslie :-D · Dec 10, 2007

the last thing you want to do, is be emotional w/this guy.

the more ranting, the better rating.

and yeah, it is about the ratings.

if you feel you need to defend nsg, calmly respond w/an editorial in the paper.

don't even contact the station.

any response directly to this man, is still fueling the fire.

ultimately, what it comes down to is the very personal decisions made between parents/child and md.

we know what's involved in a code.

we also know the difference between existence and living.

let them think what they want.

leslie

ktwlpn, LPN · Dec 10, 2007

actually I AM a fan of Kevorkian-I even sent him a few holiday cards while he was incarcerated.I am also a big fan of our right to determine how we live and when we will die.This talk radio froot cake is disregarding the fact that most states do recognize that right and many more will do so.He clearly does not realize that any patient has the right to refuse any treatment and for us to go against that is actually assault and battery.What a buffoon

Simplepleasures · Dec 10, 2007

UPDATE here is the blog of this radio personality who said nurses and healthcare workers who honored a do not resuscitate order were members of the "Kavorkian Fan Club", Here is how he tries to excuse his behavior, but still unapologetic.He is NOT a shock jock ,he actually is a legislative aide for a Republican State Senator and he is on a weekly PBS show ,plus he fills in for certain talk show hosts on vacation on this particular radio station.

http://blogs.franklinnow.com/this_just_in/archive/2007/12/10/do-not-resusicitate.aspx

RNPATL, DNP, RN · Dec 11, 2007

i am burning mad!!i was listening to a local radio am talk show that broadcasts from milwaukee today.the host was discussing a local story about chronically ill children in the public school system and do not resusitate orders. he stated that teachers and/or nurses at the scene were wrong to obey the order.he said that nurses or medical people who obeyed such orders were uncaring and morally wrong-even in the clinical setting of hospital or nursing home. he went so far as to call me and several other nurses who called in part of the"kevorkian fan club"!!!. he said it scared and disturbed him greatly that we as caregivers would not go against such orders.the emt and several nurses tried to explain to him how devastating it is to a already frail body to do a full code.he also blamed parents of such children as just wanting to rid themselves of a burden.
i think he needs to hear from nurses all over the country and know he is dead wrong.the talk show host's name is kevin fisher,(who was sitting in for jay weber) the name of the program is news talk wisn-am.
http://www.newstalk1130.com/main.html
the email address of the stations program director is [email protected]
please send your opinion as a nurse and caregiver.

i agree that placing a letter or email to kevin fisher is a waste of time, but i do believe the station manager needs to hear from nurses. i listened to the program through the internet and the station's web site. my email (pasted below) expresses my opinion on the subject.

here is the email i sent:

[color=gray]dear mr. botts,

[color=gray]i felt compelled to write you and share my thoughts on the programming your station (more specifically, kevin fisher) hosted regarding do not resuscitate (dnr) orders for children in the school system. first, allow me to preface what i am about to say by indicating that i believe, in my professional opinion, that the decision parents face when making their child a dnr is one that is very difficult. i am certain that no parent wishes to be placed in the position where they have to make a decision of this nature for a member of their family (whether it is a child or an elderly adult). no matter how people feel about the choices, it is a decision that is very difficult to make. in addition, i do not believe the school systems (i.e. teachers, etc.) are prepared to allow a child to simply die in their class room or in the school. but, for a child that is suffering a terminal illness, and where a physician has indicated that there is no probably hope of recovery, should we, as a society, tell these parents and children that it is simply too uncomfortable to die in the school? i think not. rather, we need to provide education and support to our teachers and school staff to help them understand the process of dying with dignity and without pain and suffering. it is simply the only humane way to end the suffering of a helpless child.

[color=gray]in response to the comments made by your host, kevin fisher, it saddens me that a dj would go to such lengths to get ratings. the pain and suffering of the parents, children and the school systems involved is enough. while i agree and recognize that topics like this need to be discussed and support freedom of speech, i also believe that the dialogue on this topic should be treated with a great deal of respect for differing opinions. to respond to nurses and other health care professionals that called in to express a contrary opinion and refer to the as the “kevorkian fan club, is unconscionable to say the least. in addition, to even hint that a parent wanted to get rid of a burden by agreeing to an dnr order only shows the level of ignorance that mr. fisher has on the issue. i often tell my children that when they speak and express an opinion, they need to stand from a position of knowledge, so their opinion can be counted and is credible. i am sorry to say that a radio station that would allow their dj to speak from a position of ignorance is simply shameful and hurts the very people that listen to your station.

[color=gray]it is interesting that i am writing from asheville, nc because a nurse that called your station to express an opinion contrary to that of your “host” was called a member of the kevorkian fan club. she wrote in to a nurses web site and posted your show and her comments. this has obviously sparked a number of nurses to write you and share their opinions on the topic. and, before your start ringing your hands with the idea of greed because this issue and your small town program has been featured on a national nurses web site, remember the consequences to your behavior. advertisers and the public value the opinion of nurses very, very much. i would suggest that you take a good hard look at your tactics and remember that advertisers are greatly influenced by a profession that is well over 2 million strong. consider that the next time you decide to allow your shock jocks take aim at the hearts and souls of dying children and the parents that are faced with honorific decisions.

[color=gray]i hope this email has helped you understand that there are differences of opinions and these differences should be respected and not ridiculed.

[color=gray]thank you,

[color=gray]a concerned rn is asheville, nc