Dr. Oz Show – A Disabled FEN Member Doesn’t Like How He Was Treated, Either

 I hope to have some first-hand accounts up by Monday next week from NDYers and other disability activists who went to the taping of the Dr. Oz show on assisted suicide.  While extensive edits have to be done on the show to shorten it to fit available air time, all reports so far say that it was a circus, and at least one of the disability activists we know felt like nothing more than windowdressing.  This didn’t come as a surprise considering the constantly changing stories from the producers, contradictory communications with people figuring out their travel to the show, etc.

I know some people might be thinking that the staff of the Oz show make lied and treated disabled people disrespectfully might just be our own anger showing – at a staff and show that came out with a very big pro-assisted suicide slant.

But it turns out that our friends and allies weren’t the only ones who formed a very low opinion of the staff at the Dr. Oz show.  Yesterday, Kurt Perry, who was invited to be on the show originally, left two long messages in the “comments” section of the previous blog post about the show.

Kurt Perry is a member of the Final Exit Network (FEN).  We wrote a little about Mr. Perry in this post in 2009.   This 2009 Chicago Tribune article goes into detail about him and his relationship with FEN.  He is on the opposite side of the assisted suicide debate.  So I think it’s significant that his interactions with the Dr. Oz staff left a bad taste in his mouth.  Below are the messages edited together into one post:

I agree with what you said, in regards to the Dr. Oz show. I was contacted by a few of their show producers last week on Wednesday, regarding their interest in having me there to participate in the “Assisted Suicide” episode. During the initial conversation, they asked me very personal questions about my health and my viewpoints regarding the right-to-die. The conversation made me feel like I was being investigated by them. They wanted to know very specific details about me, including when I plan to “exit”, my method for “exiting”, and my involvement in FEN. They also wanted to send a video camera to my home, asking me to film an elaborate video for their show, detailing my health condition by showing how it has physically affected me, etc. Initially, they made the episode seem like it was going to be a personal “intervention” episode, which I conveyed to them I wasn’t interested in participating in that kind of episode, that my focus in the media, is to discuss about right-to-die issues. They responded, explaining that the episode would involve discussion by a few “experts”, alongside me, my being an integral part of the episode. They continued to mention how “important” the video they wanted me to make of myself, was to the show, and repeatedly trying to get me to assure them that I’d be available for their field producer to guide me through making this video for them.

They also had their “travel team”, contact me that day, to set up travel arrangements, which they made it seem that the “travel team”, was in-house, rather than as a third-party company they outsource potential guests’ travel arrangements to. While the “travel team” did in fact contact me on Wednesday evening, to set up the travel arrangements, they never contacted me back with any sort of followup information, let alone finalized details of the travel plans. After not hearing from anyone connected with the show at all on Thursday, other than the field producer, I began to have concerns about this, as being a person who suffers from disability, I need to have travel arrangements made as soon as possible, in order to physically prepare to travel, and to have assurance prior to that, in that my travel needs are being met. On Friday, I still hadn’t heard back from the “travel team”, but I was told by the show producers I spoke with on Friday, that the “travel team” was indeed a third party company, and how it was impossible for them to accommodate my needs of knowing the travel arrangements right away, which after a long debate regarding other issues, the show producers acknowledged that they indeed could find out the travel arrangements right away. The long debate mostly pertained to how I’d be accommodated at the show, which led into a debate regarding the show itself.

By Friday, the show producers had strayed away from their previous insistence of me making the video, as I still was concerned that it could be used as a way of developing a personal story about me. The show producers were now telling me that the episode was going to center around Compassion & Choices, along with a panel of their experts, but not involve me for more than two or three minutes, and that quite possibly, the segment featuring the portion of it that I’d be in, could very well be edited out. Despite my being hurt and offended at the way the show producers had been misleading me, I still was interested in attending the show, in wanting to at least be able to speak with people backstage. However, the show producers suddenly decided to inform me, that I’d be required to give them permission to access my entire medical history through all of my medical records, etc. They claimed it was for legal reasons to prove that I indeed have neuropathy. I suggested to them, since I barely was going to get a chance to speak at all on the show, that I not even be mentioned as having a neuropathy, but simply that I’m “disabled” and that I’m a member of Final Exit Network, along with any allotted time I’d have in speaking. They denied my suggestion, hence, I didn’t end up going on the show. 

Seems to me that if a disabled guy from FEN thinks the Dr. Oz crew are jerks when it comes to disability and the NDYers (and friends) think the same thing….  They probably are jerks, at least when it comes to disabled people.  Maybe they’re different when it comes to nondisabled people.  –Stephen Drake