Wednesday, September 08, 2010

Tweeting Your Own Heart Attack

It's funny, until it's not:
Opportunity + Instinct = Profit. A good journalist can sense the moment that a story is developing and seize the moment. That’s why when White House correspondent Tony Christopher started having a heart attack, he immediately logged into Twitter and started covering it:

Approximately at 6pm on Sunday afternoon Christopher wrote, “I gotta be me. Livetweeting my heart attack. Beat that!” Presumably a few minutes later the paramedics arrived to tell Christopher he will be stable after his crisis.

An hour later Christopher joked about needing to own a cardiac cat, referencing a viral video in which a cat is trying to revive his dead feline friend. He also updated his followers about the pain he was feeling, “even after the morphine.”
So is this the message the White House wants sent to America?

Seems to me his time might have been better spent on (1) taking an aspirin, (2) calling 911, and (3) calling a friend, (4) and assembling a list of his current medications and past medical history for the doctors in case he loses consciousness.

But that's just me...

-Wes

6 comments:

WarmSocks said...

re#4: Shouldn't anyone taking prescriptions already be carrying a meds list?

Marco said...

Sigh...for some people, social media serves as yet another tool for exhibitionism.

If this guy died, he would tweet from wherever he goes in the afterlife.

rlbates said...

I agree with you, Dr Wes. After the ASA and the appropriate calls, he could have tweeted if he liked.

SteveC said...

Tweet: "I'm having a heart attack!"

Tweet: LOL!

Tweet: RT @TChristopher I'm having a heart attack!

Tweet: @TChristopher Can I have your Stuff?

Anonymous said...

Dr. Wes,

An important point as you chose to associate the White House with this guy; a linkage that was not intended to be complimentary. As all those called "white House correspondents", he is not employed by the White House. This guy is a blogger for Mediaite, a free lance writer, and has worked for AOL. And once upon a time, he was even a (horrors!) health insurance consultant. Helen Thomas was a White House corr, Dick Gregory was a White House corr, Sam Donaldson was a White House corr. You're certainly entitled to your own opinions, but do be careful with the facts. Thanks.

The Happy Hospitalist said...

This is all part of the White House push for transparency. Didn't you know?