February 23, 2007
Medicine EntertainmentArts and Entertainment
Alright, macacas. We don’t want you to get the wrong idea. It’s only because we’ve all been crazy busy lately that we haven’t gotten to this one yet. We certainly don’t want you to think that we here at the Mutiny consider ourselves too high-brow(n) to address the strange case of Dr. Sandeep Kapoor, a.k.a. the “meth doctor” who has found himself in the limelight due to his involvement in the now-ended life of Anna Nicole Smith.
Question One: Is that T-shirt for real, or is it Photoshopped? Either way it’s a remarkable image. Almost as remarkable as the image the gossip sites had of the brother sans shirt, apparently launching into woozy canoodle with Ms. Smith on a couch in a club before some other sycophant shoves a hand on the camera lens. Almost as remarkable as that of the brother astride a West Hollywood Gay Pride Parade “float” — actually a black Saab convertible — gazing fondly down at Ms. Smith while she — oh, just click the link. (I have absolutely no idea whether it’s SFW or NSFW, by the way. I can’t gauge these things anymore.)
One of my Sepia colleagues commented to me that the brewing controversy over Dr. Kapoor, who is now under investigation by the California medical board for his alleged role in supplying Ms. Smith with the alleged pharmaceutical products that are alleged to have contributed to her demise (I think we’re safe with that phrasing), is actually good for the race, in that no one has commented on Kapoor’s ethnicity, leaving his incompetence and general gross-ness to speak for itself without racial qualifiers — he is being judged, if you will, not on the color of his skin but on the content of his character. Well, my co-Mutineer didn’t actually phrase it that way; I’m embellishing, but it’s still his basic point. Which means: Yay! Desis are now so normalized into the field of medicine that they are expected to be insane, incompetent, quacks at no greater or lesser rate than found in the general medical population.
The gossip sites also inform us (caution: clothed but scary picture) that Dr. Kapoor advertised at some point for a position (chick pea, are you listening?) in which he describes one of his practice’s specialties as Entertainment Medicine. This is, apparently, a hitherto-unknown field. He also does travel immunizations and (ahem) “several national and international clinical pharmaceutical trials.” I don’t know about Entertainment Medicine, but when it comes to Medicine Entertainment, this brother’s gotta be a shoo-in for the Oscar.
siddhartha on February 23, 2007 10:45 AM in Arts and Entertainment · T·r·a·c·k·b·a·c·k address · Direct link · Email post
prescribing restricted drugs to 'fake' handles.. to 8 month pregnant females... is awesome... especially when it also includes a public makeout/groping session with a celebrity...
(this guy is so wrong, it's not even funny... in all seriousnes, i hope to god he loses his license to practice medicine period, he makes me want to vomit)
p.s. that t-shirt is for real.. i know several people who own one... it gives them more 'game'.
Ew. He should lose his license for exercising some serious bad taste. And, uh, unprofessionalism.
Also, meth is an opioid but is not totally contraindicated in pregnancy. Better than mom shootin' heroin or going through acute withdrawal, anyway. (In high-risk ob clinic I definitely saw some pregnant women on meth.)
Hey! I have that shirt :( It never got me game, it just got lots of requests for medical marijuana prescriptions. Now I'll have to burn it. Thanks, SepiaMutiny.
Valuable tip in the hookup department to all those nerdy macaca doctors.
high-brow(n)
"High brow(n)" -- is that a pun on "high yellow"? If so, that's clever on multiple levels.
Holy crap that post just hit me...ENTERTAINMENT MEDICINE? What do they do, make interns slip on banana peels and attack each other with pies? Because I've done it and made no money. Or is it an escort service? No, seriously. We don't make enough at this gig if we're in it for the healing. Whoring myself out to a couple pharmaceutical companies doesn't cut it like straight up whoring. It ain't easy bein' a quack. But really...I think it's the same kind of doctor as Dr. Pepper or those scary dudes on Dr. 90210 that I've recently learned are board certified reality show twats.
Honestly, this dude sounds shaaaady. Makes me wonder how many other docs are out there in "Entertainment Medicine" - I bet a bunch of folks are keeping their clients pill popping.
Ew. Ewww. "Entertainment medicine" probably means "a doctor who can get you prescriptions to whatever you want but will be very discreet and never run to the tabloids with your story" + "a doctor who will whisk you away to a nice discreet elite rehab facility and handle the publicity work when you have to blame any ill-considered public behaviour on your alcohol problem.
A doctor who will do your lipo at home and throw in some free Botox and Valium? ;)
they used to sell those "trust me i'm a doctor" shirts at urban outfitters. i thought it was supposed to be ironic, until i witnessed a bunch of med students embracing--and actually wearing them. i'd say it's pathognomonic for someone that is a tool.
this goes back to my view of medicine near beverly hills/etc... they throw botox parties at night with wine and cheese in their offices ( and no, i'm not joking)...
sparky, you hit that one ON THE NAIL!
Meh. I feel bad enough already without the "tool" supplementation. I was young, naive, newly matriculated...I didn't know it would catch on. I was the hipster leader of the poignant t-shirt revolution! Alas, I did not forsee that the other medical students would get their grubby SASA loving *chokes* formaldehyde soaked hands on it, effectively making us all look like The Greasers...or more appropriately, The Pink Ladies...and I had to ditch it. My intentions were pure! Now the only t-shirt I'm fit to wear is "I'm With Stupid." I ask for insult amnesty on these grounds.
only if you'll wear the tshirt:
i don't deal with doctor stalkers.
sorry, Antahkarana, i missed your comment about you owning it...didn't mean to diss you!
Ha! Ha ha ha! That is great!! That might be my new favorite nerdy inside-medicine joke, next to describing sketchy guys at bars with "he looks like he has chlamydia."
Is there any chance that Dr.Kapoor can be the father of Anna baby.
hell i was going to sell t-shirts that say:
i am the father of anna's baby
on the note of anna nicole and the entire sad fiasco: what was up with that hollywood/wannabe judge? he was a complete and utter histrionic TOOL.
He's kind of cute, better looking than a lot of the whack desi doctors I've seen.
Don't forget to take this quiz on one of the links at tmz.com
Ummm...
We're avoiding the really important question here...are Dr. Kapoor's parents still proud of beta for getting on national TV, whatever be the circumstances?
BRILLIANT!! Chick pea..you seem to have, quite an 'entrepreneurial streak' in you!!
Am I the only one whose curiosity is more than piqued by him being shirtless in a gay club with Anna Nicole (even though he's allegedly "licking" her), and also riding in a convertible in the WeHo gay pride parade? Metrosexual? Or hot gay ABD lovin'? Maybe she was just a "hag"?
got to, esp after having the terminator try to take my income away from me.
please...Dr. Kapoor is sooo gay.
Siddhartha--
Isn't it a little reaching to keep calling all Desis "macacas"? I realize you're trying to show in-group strength by using with pride a name given in hatred (like gays with "fag," or blacks with the n-word), but in this case "Macaca" isn't in the same league. It was used 1 time by 1 politician, who got it from his north African-Jewish mom (i.e. it's not even an American slur), plus the word is not even used to describe south Asians in Tunisia, but Africans and Arabs.
You realize incorrectly. I'm not "trying to show in-group strength" at all. Anyway, this topic has been discussed here at great length. Some folks like it, others don't. I stand by my choice of words.
Siddhartha --
I followed your link. Wow -- the original post written by Abhi states:
"I say that South Asian Americans should begin calling each other “Macaca.” Like, “What up Macaca?” Let’s take this word and make it our own, thereby taking power away from the current establishment. Then we can beat the crap of any non-South Asians that use it, especially if they look like they either work for the MAN or might actually be the MAN."
Two points: 1) this sounds fairly close to what I was saying as the reason you have adopted the term "Macaca," and 2) you realize that a white person writing this on his website, if you reverse brown and white, would have his website considered a hate site? There is an actual threat of racial violence here.
Calling Dr. Bombay..calling Dr. Bombay. Emergency. Come right away.
This is Big P Progress. We were in desperate need of some media bifurcation of the Super Desi Doc, to play against Sanjay Gupta and Atul Gawande.
"Pique Performance," there have been dozens of posts here that discuss the "macaca" incident and, later, the use or misuse of the term "macaca" in various contexts, in both the main posts by different authors here and in the comment threads. It has been the topic of argument, dispute, sarcasm, irony, protest, pride, and numerous other emotions. It was one of the biggest topics here, and indeed, in the entire South Asian-American community, in 2006. You would do well to consider it in its fullness, not to selectively grab things with no context and try to use them for trolling purposes.
Siddhartha,
I did not "selectively grab things with no context," I went to the link you provided for me and quoted from Abhi's post there.
can we get back to the topic of how 'trustworthy' this doctor is?
i'm sure his parents are quite proud of his accomplishment/s...but we'll see after he loses his license to practice... i'm sure he'll have a tell-all book and milk it for all it's worth..
more tshirts for him:
Rx: malpractice
and
make out with me for methadone
okay, i'm over and out. bottom line: he's a complete tool. and that shirt proves it (sorry mr. a, when you said you had it.. nothing against you.. all my wrath is at the super tool who's pic is above).
Sparky, The fact that you used the word "pathognomonic" in this forum makes you a med school tool...
Just F'in with you!
Yes, I take full credit for suggesting the use of the word "Macaca" as I described it above. Historians will someday trace the origin of its common use among South Asians to refer to each other to my blog post. Please tell your friends Pique Performance.
it's such a great word though!!
Ok....how many of ya'll notice that Anna Nicole Smith is wearing the SAME DRESS? I mean, Dr. K has made as many dress changes as one expects to see in a regular Bollywood song but the pneumatic blonde is still wearing that white clingy dress.
I am not a South Asian American. The FAQ says I am allowed to read. I have made some comments too in the past, and am still not banned. :)
I do not identify with Macaca or any such word, and I do not want to be called a Macaca. I fail to understand the joy of self-flagellation, but then that's only my opinion. Probably a troll.
Btw, just heard Bill O Reilly mention the doctor's name, with a terrible accent - suundip koopaar or something like that.
hahaha yah that shirt is real...this dude i used to be friends with used to wear one all the time and he was the biggest tool ever. Somewhere in the back of my mind i thought of buying that shirt but now seeing this sleezebag wearing one (please this guy shouldnt be a doc, it brings shame to the rest of us) i'll pass :). Oh and chickpea, t-shirthell.com prolly is going to have the "im anna nicole smith's baby's daddy" shirt up soon, hahah.
oh hey another thing i left out...i know its OT but chickpea, how do u feel about desis going back to india to get their MD (which im doing currently). Some people i know back home always tell me its the easy way out (not even close) but iono.
T-shirt hell has the t-shirt here.
does anyone else think that bill o'reilly intentionally butchers "ethnic" names? last i heard, the man still mispronounces "Iran," when most other journalists have moved on!
Dr Sandy is Anna baby daddy?
though i do think he is majorly sleazy, i also think dr. kapoor is very smart. he made himself her doctor/drug-dealer/lover. i'm sure he wasn't very indispensable as the last, but combined with the first two roles, he made himself ever-present in her life. i think uncle and aunty kapoor should take heart in that fact!
If Dr K is sleazy then half of Hollywood is sleazy too. I mean here's a guy who has by any account a very successful career in entertainment medicine.
Watching you losers on here take the moral high ground is well....pathetic.
All right, apart from the scintillating t-shirt and macaca issues, back to the embarrassment to medicine.
So he's not being investigated as being the individual who supplied the drugs that caused her death, right? Because unless methadone clinics were observing mardi gras, it's freaking impossible to any while you're recovering, let along pregnant! Generally a junkie goes in, urinates in front of one of the employees, bottles it, hands it over, it gets tested for any extraneous drug abuse or other methadone subscriptions, and then they're supplied with enough methadone to fill a craving but not enough to have the heroin/meth experience all over again for a DAY. At least that's how it SHOULD be.
I don't understand how he could prescribe it AND have it shipped to the Bahamas. He should be arrested for basically everything else: innappropriate doctor-patient relationship (my ethics professor may have a stroke when she hears about this...), prescribing narcotic medication (which is basically a narcotic these days) to a pregnant woman (how it got filled is BEYOND me), and writing out a prescription for an alias. COMPLETELY illegal, I can't imagine what he was thinking, this shit gets drilled into your head until it's a permanent fixture in your hippocampus. This isn't freaking House MD. My god...do celebrities really have different rules laid out for them?
The Anna Nicole spectacle is reaching O.J. proportions and is starting to drive me insane.
Isnt this noraml medicine? You have a choice of the mother being addicted to heroine or methadone, so you prescribe the lesser of the 2 evils? Either way, this guy look's like an attention whore.
How desperate are people these days for fame? It seem's that every other person in the USA seem's to think they are so special that the whole damn world need's to know who they are!
pick the lesser of 2 evils sriram. it's either anna or britney, because nothing else is going on in the world.
It is supposed to be ironic, and therefore extra ironic if worn by an actual doctor. Another in-joke if you will. I refuse to believe anyone is actually toolish enough to wear one to get game (or to fall for that ploy to get game).
chick, if you made a "make out with me for methadone" shirt I would be so all over it!
Aside from the apparent skeezyness of the doc, I really think the coverage around Anna Nicole's life/death is so sad. I mean, she spent so much of her life as a spectacle. It's really depressing.
Comment 31: There is an actual threat of racial violence here.
I'm so glad you pointed out Abhi's threat, I must have missed it in all the discussions last year. I now see the real agenda behind the phrase Sepia MUTINY. Good lord, sumbuddy call the FBI before all the maca...I mean brown people rise up and chappal-smack all us goras to death!
I love the idea of Entertainment Medicine! Does MIA's "Bird Flu" fit in there somehow? And where's Bong Breaker when you need him, breakdancing for his patients?!?
"I refuse to believe anyone is actually toolish enough to wear one to get game (or to fall for that ploy to get game)."
Desishiksa...if you're ever in Boston....have drinks at a club called 'The Rack'....you may change your mind about this statement...:)
Again, methadone is okay in pregnancy. Also, I am in no way interested in defending this guy, but she was a rich woman, and he is a physician, albeit the most irresponsible one over. My point is, If you can find heroin, you can find methadone. If she was interested in recreational methadone use she certainly did not need a prescription from her doctor. Although...it's so weird. Methadone is an opioid, sure, but it's long-acting and doesn't produce a high. It's job is to quell symptoms of acute withdrawal so an addict can overcome their addiction one day at a time. If I was an addict I'd skip the kid stuff and go right for the heroin. What did her autopsy show?
That's incredibly obtuse. You have a heroin-addicted woman who finds herself pregnant. Your choices are 1) Let her keep doing heroin and watch her give birth to a brand-new heroin addict 9 months later, 2) Let mom (and fetus) go into acute withdrawal, possibly causing death to one or both, or 3) Give her a safe alternative. (Obviously, not being a drug addict in the first place is the ideal situation - DUH. Burn this guy for being a gynormous inappropriate tool but if Anna Nicole was a heroin addict then his decision to prescribe her methadone during her pregnancy was completely appropriate and is the standard of care.)
Right, Rupa. You'd think with Anna Nicole's drug use history they would have tried to find some alternative, kept a better eye on her, and probably made it very hard for her to find recreational methadone (she was in the public eye a bit more than the average free clinic street junkie)...and I don't even know if it's the high at this point as much as it is wanting to fight growing cravings to a point where the dosage SHE felt was necessary led to an overdose. And he complied with her request for the money to frequent gay bars. It's like too many nicotine patches...but naturally, a lot worse.
I'm still baffled...how did this guy practice medicine for as long as he did?
i am baffled too.. all i could really find out about him was this..i'll see if any friends i know, knew him in med school, or at ucla... hmm... curious cats want to know..
and camille: will get those shirts out to you asap. ;).
Suboxone would have been a better choice for her. It's bad medicine- methadone being rx'd to a known substance abuser outside of a methadone clinic. Yes, methadone is presently the most widely prescribed treatment for a pregnant opioid addict but suboxone, a new alternative to methadone, will change this in the next few years. Methadone does produce a little buzz, does have street value and is very easy to OD on- particularly when mixed with benzodiazepines like valium, klonopin and xanax. It's happening at an alarming rate around the country.
camille: here is my shop to buy a t-shirt, proceeds above the cost of the shirt are going to the american cancer society...
"particularly when mixed with benzodiazepines "
How long have you waited before finally being able to use "benzodiazepines" in a sentence?
Adults do not die from narcotic withdrawal, only from benzo/barbiturate/alcohol withdrwal. Narcotic withdrawal is uncomfortable as hell, but it won't kill you. It can, however, kill the fetus so methadone is a reasonable substitute for using heroin during pregnancy. Probably best to get it from a methadone clinic, though, not some random guy.
Tunku Varadarajan said about Anna Nicole Smith:
Just trying to find another desi angle for y'all
I bought that shirt at Target, except it came in brown with red, felt lettering.
The Departed is overrated
Oh alright Urban Outfitters also makes a "Trust me I'm a Lawyer" shirts and I actually thought about buying it, but then I saw people wearing it around school and realized they were about annoying as those people who drive around with their MENSA license plates and I got over it...quickly.
Dr. Sandy a/k/a Sue Ellen was just blinded by his desperate need for media attention - he is probably reading this too - his need for his 15 minutes just got the best of him. He is in deep do do. AHHHHHH the power of the prescription pad Must make the family oh so proud. Sue Ellen Sue Ellen Sue Ellen................