Posted by A couple of days ago, when I was examining a new referral, who was another patient with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), the patient’s family asked me, “Are you the doctor we saw on TV?” Then it dawned on me that the TV News footage that was shot in our office two weeks ago (see previous post here), must have been aired already. Am I now a celebrity?
After I asked them when did they see me, they told me that the TV news clip about the patient with ALS, whom I examined was shown the night before. And I did not even see myself on broadcast. I missed my own TV premier!
Fortunately the video clip was in the local TV News website, which I checked later that day. Finally I was able to watch myself on the news. Man, I was really on TV. Move over House, MD!
As I remember it, the TV news crew was in our office for more than an hour shooting that footage, including the patient performing the breathing test and me examining him. I was with the patient for about 20-25 minutes getting his history , performing my examination, going over his breathing test, and discussing management plans and prognosis with him and his family. The camera was rolling throughout and I even had a microphone placed on me the whole time.
When I viewed the final product of the film clip which was 6 minutes long, I found that they showed me for a total of 2 seconds. Only two seconds! They showed a close-up of my hand holding a stethoscope even longer than they showed my face! Don’t they like my Brad Pitt-like image?
But that’s alright, at least I was not edited out altogether. And besides the news clip was not about me but about my patient who was raising awareness of his untreatable disease and raising funds for an organization he founded to help other patients with ALS and their family. My appearance was incidental.
Later that day, a friend from our church e-mailed me and told me that they saw me on TV. Then when I was making my rounds in the hospital the other day, a nurse approached me and beamed that she saw me on the news. Even people from our office told me that they also saw me on TV. Obviously, even with my 2 seconds of fame, people have recognized me. In the word of my kids, “Dad, you’re famous.”
So for good measure, I am now carrying a pen all the time. I am being ready, just in case somebody approach me and ask for an autograph.
(*image of TV from here)
Pinoy Transplant in Iowa 
Bring your pen to church Saturday: I will sure need one autograph! Lol!
…. run away paparazzis are coming for you 🙂
haha! this is cool. didn’t know that the guy who dropped by my site’s a doctor. and a rather famous one at that? shaks! better have that pen with you when you visit the philippines again, pinoytransplant. 🙂
hope i i’ll read about the new celebrity’s encounters in the days to come. with pics and in his doctor’s garb… ^^
plenty of thanks for coming over my site and leaving comments. regards! 🙂
I guess you can say you’ve just had your “Andy Warhol moment,” albeit for 2 seconds, as you said. Those two seconds were enough for people to recognize you and remember though. You must have a memorable or distinctive look then! Very important for TV viewing.
When you are a foreign-born doctor in Iowa, you are hard to miss. Des Moines is not that ethnically diverse.
After I clicked the reply button, the realization hit me. I forget about these matters because I’m a little spoiled in the SFO Bay Area.