The curious case of CM Punk's medical condition
Nov 27, 2014 18:17:51 GMT -5
Andy Martin and kevin like this
Post by saintpat on Nov 27, 2014 18:17:51 GMT -5
A lot of people are making a big deal (perhaps rightfully) about how CM Punk contracted a staph infection in his latter months in the WWE and a lot of blame is being heaped on the WWE doctor for misdiagnosing a condition that Punk says another doctor says should or could have killed him.
But there's some stuff that doesn't add up. We don't have complete information here, but I find some of it, at the very least, kind of head-scratching:
* Punk says he goes to a doctor in Tampa who looks at this lump on his lower back and tells him it's a life-threatening staph infection. The doctor tells him he need to go to the hospital for an IV drip and to have it drained.
This is rather alarming. The man's very life is hanging in the balance.
Punk's reaction? He tells the doctor, "Well, let's say we didn't have time for that."
The doctor does as he asks, cuts and drains this puss-filled cyst (which literally shoots infectious material up to the roof) and gives him some antibiotic pills and sends him on his way.
WTF??? This guy could die of this, the doctor says he need to go to the hospital, and Punk says he's in a hurry? The doctor, instead of sending him to the hospital, treats this life-threatening condition in his office because Punk can't spare the time?
This doesn't add up. If it's as serious as it's made out to be, the doctor should be calling the hospital and an ambulance and telling Punk, "NO, LET'S NOT say we don't have time for this. LET'S SAVE YOUR LIFE!!!"
I hope the Florida medical authorities have suspended this man's license until they can investigate.
* Punk says he was having MRIs and CAT scans multiple times a week to see if he has a concussion (and he almost certainly did) during a period of time in late 1993 before the mid-November European tour.
Now, someone is arranging these medical tests. WWE, I guarantee you, doesn't have a portable MRI and CAT scan machines and a traveling diagnostic staff, so he's having these done on the road at hospitals and radiology clinics. These have to be arranged by a doctor -- you can't go to a hospital or radiology clinic and say, "Here's some money, I'd like an MRI." The results are sent to the doctor who arranges the tests.
Now that means Punk is seeing a lot of doctors. That means the WWE doctor who he calls "lazy" -- or some other doctor -- is spending a lot of time arranging admittance to hospitals or radiology clinics and also looking at these results. That doesn't strike me as lazy. It strikes me as dilligent -- he's not saying, "Take two aspirin and call me in the morning."
This is happening at the same time that this lump has appeared -- he talks of this playing out over the course of a couple of months, and then for more weeks after that if you listen to his story.
So why didn't he ask the hospital to drain it? Or look at it? How many doctors could he have pointed this out to if he wasn't satisfied with the WWE doctor?
Again, curious.
* Punk says he first tells the WWE doctor about it and asks to have it drained in the locker room. Now he says this is common, and cites Chris Benoit popping wrestlers pimples (really?) as proof that this is how things have long been done. The doctor says no for this reason or that. But we now know that this was a staph infection, and you can ask any medical expert and they will surely tell you that it should only be drained in a sterile environment - staph is deadly and you can't kill it: operating rooms have been shut down and sealed off in some cases because it's something that they can't get rid of, so doing it in a locker room where everyone who uses that room in the future could be at risk would be highly irresponsible.
Punk basically says "cut this out, right here and now" and when the doctor says no, he more or less says forget about it. Why he didn't go see another doctor, only he knows.
Anyway, as Punk tells it, the first time he shows the doctor the lump the doctor asks "Does it hurt?" and Punk says no.
He shows him again before the Royal Rumble and the doctor asks if it hurts and he says yes.
I totally believe Punk, by the way. It didn't hurt at first and later it did.
So what does that mean?
Punk asks the doctor to remove it before the RR and he says no, you have to wrestle tonight. Punk then gets in the ring and gets a concussion and after the match that is the concern, not the lump.
The next day, Punk quits/leaves -- whatever you want to call it.
My point? The doctor may have acted diferently now that the lump is painful -- it's a change in his symptoms. We'll never know, because he never sees him about that again as Punk is concussed after the match and leaves before TV starts the next night.
Now maybe the WWE doctor didn't act properly. Maybe he would have if Punk had stayed. No way to tell.
We also don't know that the doctor never told him to have it checked out. We do know he tried to treat it with antibiotics -- the wrong kind, because he didn't properly diagnose it as staph, but there was no neglect in making an attempt to treat it. They even tried stronger antibiotics when the first ones didn't work. So it doesn't sound like "I'm too lazy, I don't care." It sounds more like he thought it was something else and acted accordingly.
I hope we get WWE's side of the story, but the doctor or WWE may not be able to talk because HIPPA (a law that keeps medical information private unless the patient aggrees to relese it).
In any case, there's more to this that we don't know than that we do. There are holes in the story. I hope someone can someday fill them.
But there's some stuff that doesn't add up. We don't have complete information here, but I find some of it, at the very least, kind of head-scratching:
* Punk says he goes to a doctor in Tampa who looks at this lump on his lower back and tells him it's a life-threatening staph infection. The doctor tells him he need to go to the hospital for an IV drip and to have it drained.
This is rather alarming. The man's very life is hanging in the balance.
Punk's reaction? He tells the doctor, "Well, let's say we didn't have time for that."
The doctor does as he asks, cuts and drains this puss-filled cyst (which literally shoots infectious material up to the roof) and gives him some antibiotic pills and sends him on his way.
WTF??? This guy could die of this, the doctor says he need to go to the hospital, and Punk says he's in a hurry? The doctor, instead of sending him to the hospital, treats this life-threatening condition in his office because Punk can't spare the time?
This doesn't add up. If it's as serious as it's made out to be, the doctor should be calling the hospital and an ambulance and telling Punk, "NO, LET'S NOT say we don't have time for this. LET'S SAVE YOUR LIFE!!!"
I hope the Florida medical authorities have suspended this man's license until they can investigate.
* Punk says he was having MRIs and CAT scans multiple times a week to see if he has a concussion (and he almost certainly did) during a period of time in late 1993 before the mid-November European tour.
Now, someone is arranging these medical tests. WWE, I guarantee you, doesn't have a portable MRI and CAT scan machines and a traveling diagnostic staff, so he's having these done on the road at hospitals and radiology clinics. These have to be arranged by a doctor -- you can't go to a hospital or radiology clinic and say, "Here's some money, I'd like an MRI." The results are sent to the doctor who arranges the tests.
Now that means Punk is seeing a lot of doctors. That means the WWE doctor who he calls "lazy" -- or some other doctor -- is spending a lot of time arranging admittance to hospitals or radiology clinics and also looking at these results. That doesn't strike me as lazy. It strikes me as dilligent -- he's not saying, "Take two aspirin and call me in the morning."
This is happening at the same time that this lump has appeared -- he talks of this playing out over the course of a couple of months, and then for more weeks after that if you listen to his story.
So why didn't he ask the hospital to drain it? Or look at it? How many doctors could he have pointed this out to if he wasn't satisfied with the WWE doctor?
Again, curious.
* Punk says he first tells the WWE doctor about it and asks to have it drained in the locker room. Now he says this is common, and cites Chris Benoit popping wrestlers pimples (really?) as proof that this is how things have long been done. The doctor says no for this reason or that. But we now know that this was a staph infection, and you can ask any medical expert and they will surely tell you that it should only be drained in a sterile environment - staph is deadly and you can't kill it: operating rooms have been shut down and sealed off in some cases because it's something that they can't get rid of, so doing it in a locker room where everyone who uses that room in the future could be at risk would be highly irresponsible.
Punk basically says "cut this out, right here and now" and when the doctor says no, he more or less says forget about it. Why he didn't go see another doctor, only he knows.
Anyway, as Punk tells it, the first time he shows the doctor the lump the doctor asks "Does it hurt?" and Punk says no.
He shows him again before the Royal Rumble and the doctor asks if it hurts and he says yes.
I totally believe Punk, by the way. It didn't hurt at first and later it did.
So what does that mean?
Punk asks the doctor to remove it before the RR and he says no, you have to wrestle tonight. Punk then gets in the ring and gets a concussion and after the match that is the concern, not the lump.
The next day, Punk quits/leaves -- whatever you want to call it.
My point? The doctor may have acted diferently now that the lump is painful -- it's a change in his symptoms. We'll never know, because he never sees him about that again as Punk is concussed after the match and leaves before TV starts the next night.
Now maybe the WWE doctor didn't act properly. Maybe he would have if Punk had stayed. No way to tell.
We also don't know that the doctor never told him to have it checked out. We do know he tried to treat it with antibiotics -- the wrong kind, because he didn't properly diagnose it as staph, but there was no neglect in making an attempt to treat it. They even tried stronger antibiotics when the first ones didn't work. So it doesn't sound like "I'm too lazy, I don't care." It sounds more like he thought it was something else and acted accordingly.
I hope we get WWE's side of the story, but the doctor or WWE may not be able to talk because HIPPA (a law that keeps medical information private unless the patient aggrees to relese it).
In any case, there's more to this that we don't know than that we do. There are holes in the story. I hope someone can someday fill them.