I was in downtown Oklahoma City the day of the Murrah Bombing, anesthesitizing a patient for a knee arthroscopy. I was working at a local hospital and treated/anesthetized several of the injured. This event revealed some of the best in people I have ever seen. The spirit of volunteerism and the lack of looting distinguished the Oklahoma City disaster from violent events elsewhere in the country. Medical personnel responded to this disaster just as you would have expected them to. They did their job. There was no heroism in it. People did what they were trained to do. Local, retired physicians without their medical licenses or insurance made themselves available to treat and many did treat the wounded.
Then there were those who sought notoriety due to their connection with this disaster. This desire for fame in the midst of this carnage revealed to me perhaps the worst I have ever seen in people. Press conferences by hospital administrators seeking their moment of “glory” actually physically impeded the movement of injured patients from the emergency rooms to the operating rooms. This desire for national television exposure was quite a thing to behold. Some physicians rather than actually help the injured sought to identify themselves as “the person in charge” to capture as much of the limelight as possible. One hospital in town actually complained that they didn’t get their “fair share of vicitms.” Local, state and federal politicians used this disaster to brazenly advance their own careers and agendas. Some business owners far from the blast claimed total damage to their structures and made off with insurance checks that insurance carriers didn’t dare deny them. Gordon Liddy’s show was taken off of the radio for accusing then president Bill Clinton of “dancing in the blood of the Murrah bombing victims,” as this crisis undoubtedly rescued him from impeachment for a time. Liddy was probably right, in hindsight, having watched the political class feed on this as some sort of gift to them and their careers.
I am reminded of the Oklahoma City disaster when I look at photos of the tornado damage in Joplin, Mo. I have recently seen articles about medical personnel that are self-aggrandizing attempts to cast themselves as heros and garner all of the press they possibly can. This is a disgusting sight to me, having seen what I have seen as described above. There is no heroism in doing your job. In all fairness to those seeking fame, I think that our culture has a hard time finding true heros and tends nowadays to celebrate victims.
My heart goes out to all of those affected in Joplin and also to those battling a new cynicism resulting from watching the limelight seekers and opportunists feed on the crisis.
G. Keith Smith, M.D.
