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The Nation's Pulse
The Dr. Death Side of Dr. Drew
His celebrity proved no cure for Mindy McCready.
Country singer Mindy McCready’s life caught up with her career earlier this week. “I’m saddened to hear of her passing, but I’m not surprised,” former fiancé Dean Cain told People. “All her troubles were self-inflicted.” This includes her final trouble, which leaves two boys motherless.
If Superman couldn’t put McCready back together, why did Dr. Drew assume that he could?
McCready becomes the fifth patient of Dr. Drew’s Celebrity Rehab to transcend addiction through bodily transcendence. Unwitting riot catalyst Rodney King, Alice in Chains’ bassist Mike Starr, Taxi and Grease actor Jeff Conaway, and Real World resident Joey Kovar all passed shortly after Dr. Drew treated them. The smiling doc may not look like the grim reaper. But many of his patients behave as though they have seen him.
Death wasn’t the addiction cure they sought. But like so many before them, death was the addiction cure they got.
Physicians do wonders with broken legs. Their success rate on broken hearts ranks somewhere below Mario Mendoza’s success with curveballs. Rehab-style treatment works for doctors. Patients? Not so much. Rehab can serve as a chemical respite. But with addiction it’s the patient rather than the doctor who holds the cure. Doctors can perform many miracles. Living our lives for us isn’t one of them.
Dr. Drew, like Mindy McCready’s friends and loved ones, wielded little power over her decisions. She attempted suicide numerous times, went Murphy Brown with two children, starred in the obligatory celebrity pornographic video, lost custody of her offspring, and got arrested for OxyContin possession. Her earlier bad decisions made her final bad decision for her.
Rehab, which rarely succeeds away from the cameras, seems a riskier proposition in front of them. Surely McCready’s CV of stupidity made her a not-ready-for-primetime player. Perversely, in the perverse world we inhabit, that made her a suitable candidate for a starring role on the small screen, which strives to earn that diminutive description. Her downfall was our entertainment. Who’s sick?
Never trust a doctor who follows an initialized professional credential with a first name. It’s manipulation, as Dr. Ruth and Dr. Laura understood before Dr. Drew did. Like blue jeans and a tie, or a dress and sneakers, the title prefacing the first name sends a mixed message. It announces detached authority while inviting warm familiarity. Even a medical aficionado as esteemed as Dr. Demento subscribes to formal conventions regarding title and surname (as well as in dress).
We first met Dr. Drew as a Loveline cohost giving advice to call-in teenagers about love and lust. He shifted to chemical dependency of another sort on Celebrity Rehab, where he encountered McCready and other basket cases trying to right their lives on television, and then shifted back to his initial broadcast passion through Sex Rehab. He similarly counsels and consoles the schoolgirl mothers on MTV’s Teen Mom. Like many seedy adults, Dr. Drew hangs around with teenage girls, narcotics users, and sex perverts all too much.
What Dr. Drew does is creepy. How he acts isn’t. He seems knowledgeable, caring, and, on occasion, willing to issue tough love. A few of his patients — Mackenzie Phillips and Tom Sizemore come to mind — emerged from his care better than they entered it. Dr. Drew’s real talent is in how he makes his viewers rather than his patients feel. His success in relieving us of the need for a post-program shower may stem from his success as a performer. Dr. Drew, television talk show host, veteran voice of advice radio, friend to teen moms, reality-television star, and physician to addicts of all sorts, also acts in scripted shows and movies.
Ultimately, he understands his patients because he shares their primary addiction. Dr. Drew, as much Mindy McCready or Jeff Conaway once did, joneses for the limelight. As demonstrated by his patients’ Sunset Blvd. moments — broadcast to the world on VH1 rather than suffered privately in a darkened room — celebrity is a hard drug to kick.
About the Author
Daniel J. Flynn is the author of Blue Collar Intellectuals: When the Enlightened and the Everyman Elevated America. He blogs at www.flynnfiles.com.
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Appleby| 2.22.13 @ 7:28AM
I suppose there's some degree of enticement to performing your rehab in public -- maybe if you have no self control, you believe it could be imposed by the limelight. It's more likely that your failures, which everyone will have along the way, will be magnified by the knowledge that millions of Binkies are trained upon you night and day, waiting for you to mess up. And don't kid yourself: people tune in to see meltdowns, screw-ups and massive 35 car wrecks. The majority of people avidly staring at you through their Binkies, thus totally detached from your reality, are hoping you fail. Is it any wonder, then, that you do?
Conan| 2.22.13 @ 9:44PM
Or maybe you think people could learn from your rehab experience and seek help for themselves. You really don't sound like a recovering addict so I will give you a pass on trying to think like one.
FeFe| 2.22.13 @ 8:59AM
Indeed. And while Obama has been promised the position as the first president of the EU don't bet on Tony Blair playing 2nd fiddle.
Hardcard| 2.22.13 @ 9:09AM
It's really just a gig for celebrities who are out of work and out of favor to appear on this faker's TV show. It's like appearing on hollywood squares in the 70's, it's a paycheck for the celebrities who can't get work. dr. drew, dr.phil, dr.oz are all full of crap !!!!
TLP| 2.22.13 @ 1:42PM
Can you say The Angel of Death? Can you say Doctor Death?
Is it just Me? Or, does he look like a young Dr. Kevorkian?
And, you left out Dr. Right. (Just kidding, D.R.)
C. Vernon Crisler | 2.22.13 @ 9:23AM
I don't think you can blame Dr. Drew for Mindy McCready. From what I saw of her over the years she was not a very nice person. I mean how does a girl manage to lose a nice guy like Dean Cain? She had the looks, yes, but what good does it to have the world if you lose your own soul?
Conan| 2.22.13 @ 9:51PM
Hey a thinker on the board who realizes if you help addicts for living or a volunteer that and these people are going to die of their addiction that some of them finally do in spite of your efforts.
holmegm| 2.22.13 @ 10:31AM
Hmm.
That addiction is frequently fatal doesn't make addiction doctors "Dr. Death".
What is the fatality rate for off camera addiction patients? For that matter, what are the fatality rates for trauma ER docs? Are they "Dr. Death"?
wrlord| 2.22.13 @ 12:03PM
There is something decidedly creepy about Pinsky's persona, entirely apart from his unethically exploitative practice.
Conan| 2.22.13 @ 9:53PM
Helping addicts is exploitation? I'd like an explanation of that please.
wrlord| 2.25.13 @ 3:57AM
He's not helping anyone but himself, turning others' pain into a carnival sideshow to line his pockets.
loulou| 2.22.13 @ 12:16PM
My problem with Drew Pinsky, M.D. is that he is an internist, not a psychiatrist. He has no business playing psychiatrist with people who are very ill--possibly suicidal or homicidal. He does not have the training to treat serious psychiatric illness.
Bob Grant| 2.22.13 @ 1:45PM
Loulou,
The problem is Dr. Pinsky's on-air persona and demeanor is such that people trust him; he appears competent, he sounds competent, he seems to know what he's talking about....People want Him to help them with their problems, because, you know, he's our Dr. Drew.
It's kinda like people want Barack to be the president because he's our Barack.
Forget the fact that Dr. Drew, nor Barack are qualified to perform these jobs.
It's all celebrity, all the time.
Conan| 2.22.13 @ 9:55PM
Who are you to say he isn't qualified to treat addicts? What's really your problem with the guy and don't think it isn't obvious that you have one or are a know nothing.
Bob Grant| 2.22.13 @ 11:38PM
I say it because I'm Bob Grant. I don't have a problem because Bob Grant doesn't have problems. In addition, I'm the opposite of a know nothing. I'm the all knowing, all seeing Maha Granti.
I hope this clears things up for you.
Bob Grant| 2.22.13 @ 11:46PM
All kidding aside, Conan, I just think consulting a Celebrity Shrink for serious mental problems is a really, really, bad idea. Call me whacky, but confronting these problems in front of a television camera strikes me as bizarre.
And yea, I think a priest or minister would be a much better alternative.
Occam's Tool| 2.23.13 @ 3:54PM
Dr. Drew is NOT a psychiatrist, but an Internist. As a board certified psychiatrist, Loulou hits it precisely on the head (as she usually does---I'll let you know in a moment if I can remember disagreeing with her---wait, I can one time. It was when she was being modest---she has very little to be modest about and much to brag about, unlike Dr. Drew.)
avafromtexas| 2.28.13 @ 5:08PM
Dr. Pinsky is a addiction medicine specialist, which is as much a specialty as Allergy and Immunology, Pathology, Cardiology, Geriatrics, Anesthesiology, etc. Look it up.
This means that he took additional hours on top of what it took for him to get his M.D. This is the way that all"addictionologists"get their training (on top of whatever degree they already have), or as recovering addicts turned counselors like Shelly Sprague and Bob Forest........and me. I got my master's first and then took additional training to become an State certified addiction counselor.
The recovery rate is about 1 out of 10, but with each relapse, people can CHOOSE to learn what they did wrong in their recovery and go at it again. That's the road back to recovery and it long and hard. Not all succeed......either in their recovery or in staying alive. Having a dual diagnosis such as Primary Depression and then an addiction just makes recovery harder.
It was this person's choice to choose sobriety, or not. Not Dr. Pinsky.
TLP| 2.22.13 @ 1:46PM
You have to WANT to stop.
I did Coke for over 20 years. (And, no, that doesn't explain a lot of things.)
My 2 Kids were enough to make me stop, Cold Turkey.
Apparently, her's were not.
I hope that God sees fit to take care of those kids.
Tina B| 2.22.13 @ 4:34PM
I join you in that prayer, Amen.
CJW| 2.22.13 @ 7:40PM
Good job, Tim. You have guts and willpower.
Conan| 2.22.13 @ 9:48PM
The guts and the willpower to do what? Call Dr Drew names? I didn't see anything scientific or caring in what Flynn said or any idea of what he would do with these people to help them.
TLP| 2.23.13 @ 3:50PM
That too.
Moe Blotz| 2.23.13 @ 8:46AM
Timmy, you misspelled hers.
BTW, I tried coke once, but the bubbles burned my nose.
TLP| 2.23.13 @ 3:51PM
Are you sure that wasn't: New Coke?
Bandido| 2.24.13 @ 12:53PM
Ole!
TLP| 2.24.13 @ 4:08PM
Quick, somebody call ICE.
Bob Grant| 2.24.13 @ 5:08PM
Another drug reference?
TLP| 2.23.13 @ 4:11PM
And, you spelled "baubles" wrong.
Jrk| 2.23.13 @ 11:30PM
I have to say a cocaine addiction is a lot different than an opiate addiction. With one you feel better after a fews days of not doing it. The other you feel like you want to die if you dont get it.
gene| 2.24.13 @ 7:29AM
The person has to want to stop. Look at the population of any country and you will find 10% addicted to something. The person has to want to stay sober and clean. Without that there is no beginning.
Crassus| 2.22.13 @ 2:48PM
When Dr. Drew brought in Gary Busey as a counselor that was pretty much the end of the line for me. I guess Keith Richards wanted too much money.
Conan| 2.22.13 @ 9:47PM
Its called group therapy and he isn't a counselor. Ever hear of Alcoholics Anonymous? They are fellow addicts and fellow addicts respond to fellow addicts and their experiences not that you really seem to care about what is considered the most successful rehabilitation program for addicts.
Crassus| 2.22.13 @ 11:15PM
It's still Gary Busey, dude. If I was an addict I wouldn't want him within 20 yards of me. What's next? Charlie Sheen counseling Lindsay Lohan.
Al_B| 2.22.13 @ 4:09PM
One of your best articles, Mr. Flynn. Scary what lurks behind the curtain.
Conan| 2.22.13 @ 9:43PM
I read the article waiting to see where Dr. Drew was the problem the Dr, Death in these people's lives and it never came. What was the point? As someone who has recovered from Addiction and watched the Dr Drew shows I don't see how he is at fault or that there is anything wrong in what he is doing. I will make a wild guess that very religious people think these problems should only be addressed by religion and more specifically being saved by Jesus Christ. If that is the case Mr. Flynn have the guts to say it in here somewhere in this rambling article so we can see where you are coming from.
Jrk| 2.23.13 @ 11:33PM
Now while I agree with most of what you said Conan I think you go to far blaming religious people . I do have to say Jesus had a lot to say about "religious" people. Not a lot of it was good.
homme nike air max BW | 2.22.13 @ 10:55PM
He similarly counsels and consoles the schoolgirl mothers on MTV’s Teen Mom. Like many seedy adults, Dr. Drew hangs around with teenage girls, narcotics users, and sex perverts all too much.
dugless| 2.23.13 @ 10:30AM
When are people going to get it? Alcoholism and Drug Addiction are life threatening diseases that almost always lead to death! It is the exception rather than the rule that doesn't. They are uncurable diseases(but treatable). But people that struggle with them fight the battle every day for the rest of thier lives. When I heard about Mindy McCready, my first thought was "There, but for the Grace of God, go I!"
Freedomist | 3.1.13 @ 1:16AM
You're right about alcohol and many prescription and non-prescription drugs. However, deaths from use of illegal drugs is rare. Only 1% of all deaths from substance use is from illegal drugs. www.freedomactivist.net/cannab.....tml#deaths
dufasduck| 3.1.13 @ 3:18PM
Are you referring to the drug user's death or someone he killed to get money for his habit??
Or does collateral damage count ??
Occam's Tool| 2.23.13 @ 3:50PM
Addiction treatment requires a great deal of effort from the patient in the area in which they tend to be weakest. That being said, alcohol and opioid abuse do respond to an injectable medication---naltrexone, or vivitrol---which can be given monthly. But insurance companies are reluctant to pay for it.
Dr. Drew's patients live in fishbowls. Further, Drew is not a psychiatrist---he is an internist. His bility to treat co-morbid depression can be questioned strongly. The combination of mood disorder and celebrity can be deadly.
Freedomist | 3.1.13 @ 1:11AM
The best anti-addiction medicine has been labeled a Schedule 1 drug, despite it's great medicinal value and nearly zero potential for abuse. This anti-addiction medicine is ibogaine, derived from the iboga plant native to Africa. It does have the side effect of being hallucinogenic, a side effect that bureaucrats at the DEA apparently think is intolerable.
Rhoetus| 2.24.13 @ 11:10AM
Power is the greatest addiction of them all, just ask anyone who has been the POTUS.
Bandido| 2.24.13 @ 12:31PM
Just another snake oil salesman. I can picture him driving a covered wagon and wearing a stovepipe hat, creaking into town hawking Dr. Drew's famous Pinsky Elixir. "It cures warts, the clap, restores youth, and regrows hair wherever lost, guaranteed or double your money back. If you have anything at all wrong with you, my tonic will cure it. Down the hatch, brethren!"
John2| 2.24.13 @ 7:02PM
Dr. Drew is one of the all-time creepiest men I have ever seen or heard (eg, Love Line on the radio). He has his nose in the panties of 14 year-olds. I would not follow his advice unless independently confirmed.
To give him his due, he could tell me to keep my hands off the hot stove; I would comply. But that's about it.
avafromtexas| 2.28.13 @ 5:10PM
Talk about "creepy".......your post turns my stomach.
Freedomist | 3.1.13 @ 12:58AM
In all fairness to Jeff Conaway, his addiction to pain pills was result of constant intolerable pain from a serious spinal injury he sustained during making of Grease. My problem with Dr. Drew is his constant insistence that unabated drug use will lead to certain death. Yet, Dr. Drew made no attempt to limit his patients' tobacco use during his show. Tobacco causes of 2/3 of all deaths due to substance use, while illegal drugs only cause 1% of deaths. www.freedomactivist.net/cannab.....tml#deaths
dufasduck| 3.1.13 @ 3:45PM
Tobacco deaths are misleading. If someone lives to be 101 years old, smokes, and dies from a heart attack, he will be added to two lists and counted twice...
He died because he smoked... and he will become a data entry in the heart attack column.
There is no such thing as dying from old age or natural death anymore...
I suspect the 113 year old woman that drank whiskey, smoked, and recently died from a heart attack will be listed under all three headings, but, if she smoked pot, I doubt that she would have been list in that category.. It's not politically correct.
I car-pooled twice with a pothead. Never again. It was scary. When he was on pot, his world slowed down and he would speed up in an effort to compensate. Taking square corners at 40 MPH is not an enjoyable event. He was usually high at work stating that pot helps him turn out work faster. He finally was involved in an accident.. Nope, he didn't make it to your 1% list, but, he will never work anywhere at anytime again.....
Vance P. Frickey| 3.14.13 @ 2:11PM
Before we can add the prefix "mal" to Dr Drew's practice we need to know:
- apart from perennial rehab-ers Mackenzie Phillips and Tom Sizemore, how many people came out of Dr. Drew's practice better than they went in?
- How many of Dr Drew's patients go home alive and stay that way? We have to know that statistic, too, before we can say anything about his mortality ratio or how effective or even safe his treatment is.
I certainly wouldn't see an oncologist or a cardiologist who advertised as "Dr. Sally" or "Dr. Sam." I'd insist that my health concerns were dealt with seriously, PRIVATELY, and that my specialists and my family health doctor were focused, attentive, professional and cared about how well I responded to treatment.
The worst thing the "Doctors (insert first name)" do is make health care entertainment instead of a deadly serious business requiring deadly serious attitudes about things that could be... deadly.
Politics and journalism are the most appropriate professions to be trivialized. Elevating them to the level of the priesthood - as we did with journalists after Watergate, and Jeffrey Lord says liberals did with politics has only made it hard for some of those people to pass through ordinary doors because their heads get too large.
If the President were shown on TV to be a nebbish whose capacity for serious thought and action was nonexistent, then one besetting problem in our country would be solved - no one would WANT to be President.