Deep Brain Stimulation

3 Comments

Review of Deep Brain Stimulation

This story obviously took alot of time and commitment from the reporter - taking us from the radio studio to the operating room as Osef confronts his disease. There are some very compelling moments (i.e. Osef talking about the effects of his disease) and some education about the disease and the treatment (ouch! That operating room sound is chilling!), but I agree the story is too long.

Review of Deep Brain Stimulation

A poignant look at the effects of Parkinson’s disease on one man and a journey into modern medicine’s attempt to slow down its devastation. We meet Osef, the sufferer, and then go into the operating room with him and his surgical team as the team does a deep brain stimulation to try to quiet the effects of the disease.

I agree with a previous review that this piece goes on too long; it could be cut by 50%. But it’s very poignant when the sufferer Osef talks about how Parkinson’s has changed his life, has made him realize how finite it is. This got my attention. I would have liked a bit more of this section. Because the effects of Parkinson’s are usually perceived visually, it was a great idea to include the tape of Osef on the air as a DJ, trying to speak but having difficulty. The disease’s ravages become obvious to the listener.

Our time in the operating room is fascinating - the back-and-forth between Osef and his surgeon as they try to pinpoint the spot to stimulate – and excruciating – the sound of the drill into the skull. Owww. I appreciate the reporter’s commitment to the story. This must have taken some guts.

The post-surgery stuff is a lot of what could come out.

Review of Deep Brain Stimulation

This is a straight-forward piece about a medical procedure--deep brain stimulation. It starts with a brief portrait of a local DJ diagnosed with Parkinson’s, and then follows him to the hospital, and through the operation. There are parts of this piece that appeal to my voyeuristic streak, since a large part of it is in the operating room with the patient. The sound of the drill going into his head is excruciatingly real. The image I had listening to it of Osef (the patient) hearing that sound while he's being operated on made me cringe! The doctor who explains what he's doing while he's drilling and doing his job is great, and the interactions of when they are doing the stimulation testing is great before the operation, but goes into a little too much detail afterwards. The intriguing part of this operation is that the doctors don't really know what they're doing when they go it. They depend on the patient to guide them as they go along. I personally find this aspect fascinating: the human side of the medical world, that doctor’s are not all-knowing. But this was not explored, since this is really a basic portrait of the procedure (first this happens, then that). Frankly, there could have been a lot less of the post-operation diagnostics, that went on for about 5 minutes in the middle of the piece. Not a bad exploration of a procedure, but it could have been cut in half.