Celebrity Death Research Articles

A musical matter of life and death: the morality of mortality and the coverage of Amy Winehouse's death in the UK press

This paper focuses on a sample of UK newspapers covering the period of Winehouse's death and funeral (23 July –8 August 2011). The implicit ‘news values’ embedded in the content are contextualised through reference to earlier media coverage of Winehouse. It is shown that the media employed a variety of strategies to represent and construct Winehouse's life and death, thereby determining the nature of the readers’ ‘appetites’ to consume death as the culmination of the subject's life ‘story’. While some of the sources examined are typical of the reporting of any celebrity death, this research also exposes discourses exclusively utilised for popular musicians whose deaths are framed as ‘punishment’ for reckless behaviour.

The effect of a celebrity death on children's injury-related emergency department visits

BackgroundFollowing a skiing-related head injury death of the actor Natasha Richardson, we noted a marked increase in injury-related visits to the Emergency Department (ED) of the Montreal Children's Hospital (MCH)....

Jade the obscure: celebrity death and the mediatised maiden

In early 2009 the British tabloid and broadsheet media were consumed with the impending death of reality TV star Jade Goody. Goody, an under-educated working-class girl transformed into a media personality by UK's Big Brother, had already been at the centre of two major media controversies: one in 2002 for her tabloid vilification and recuperation during Big Brother 3 and again in 2007 for using racist language against a housemate on Celebrity Big Brother. Her medical diagnosis of advanced cervical cancer, however, shifted the controversy in terms of magnitude: filming a reality TV show for Living TV during her treatment and rapid decline, Goody was accused of ‘selling her illness’ to the media and even of intending to die on television, the ultimate taboo. These programmes were widely reviled by commentators as the nadir in Goody's mutually exploitative relationship with celebrity media, but we argue that the Jade series is a structurally groundbreaking programme in which real time and television time begin to coalesce in a way that disrupts categories of celebrity, privacy and mortality. Our analysis focuses upon the ways in which Goody's impending death impacts on her self-image and on the series' production, highlighting both her celebrity and the show as emergent texts. Through a close analysis of the series, we interrogate Goody's complex relationship with her celebrity persona in the shadow of terminal illness, and the British public's even more complex relationship with the mediatisation of celebrity death.

Impact of a Celebrity Death on Children’s Injury-related Emergency Room Visits

Objectives: To determine whether a sharp increase in Emergency Room (ER) visits at the Montreal Children’s Hospital (MCH) during the week following the death of Natasha Richardson from a skiing-related head injury was a) statistically significant and b) related to media coverage of the event. We postulated that there would be less coverage in the French media and in centres west of Quebec. Methods: We compared the number of visits to the MCH ER for 10 weeks beginning March 5 and recorded the number for head-related injuries. These data were also compared with averages for the MCH for the same weeks in the previous 16 years; with visit figures from Hopital Ste-Justine (HSJ); and with those from 3 other pediatric hospitals in provinces west of Quebec for the same period. Results: We found a 60% increase in injury visits to the MCH ER compared to the baseline week (p<0.001) and a 66% difference when compared with the 16-year average. HSJ also recorded a sharp increase during the study week but the rise did not persist. Smaller increases were recorded in the more western children’s hospitals. At the MCH nearly half of the visits were for head injuries, but there was no change in the number judged to be severe. Conclusions: These data suggest that the media coverage of this celebrity death may have generated anxiety among parents, prompting those who might not otherwise have sought medical care to bring their children to the ER. Key words: Mass media; famous persons; wounds and injuries/ep [Epidemiology]; emergency service; hospital/sn [Statistics & Numerical Data]

Adulterated cocaine and lessons learned from the Jake walk blues.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has posted a warning on their website and sent fliers to healthcare providers throughout the USA: Nationwide Pubic Health Alert Issued Concerning LifeThreatening Risk Posed by Cocaine Laced with Veterinary Anti-Parasite Drug. Similar reports have come out of Alberta, Canada and from Canadian public health advocacy groups—Alberta, Canada was one of the first locations where levamisoleadulterated cocaine was reported and first associated with severe health effects including death. Since consistently turning up in cocaine seizures in 2002, the amount of cocaine adulterated with levamisole has been steadily increasing. According to Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) data levamisole was found in over 70% of all illicit cocaine as of July 2009 [1]. The amount of levamisole encountered in cocaine typically ranges from 6 to 9% of the drug by weight and according to a recent study from Seattle, Washington nearly 80% of individuals who tested positive for cocaine also tested positive for levamisole. Although it has been used historically as an immune modulator for diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and as an adjuvant agent in anticancer therapy, levamisole is no longer approved for human use. It remains readily available, however, in pet stores throughout the USA and in Central and South America for sale as a deworming or anti-parasitic agent. A recent celebrity death brought attention to this issue. Adam Goldstein, aka DJ AM, a celebrated musician and pop DJ known for his ability to mix and blend songs together into what is referred to as ‘mashups’ was found dead in his apartment on August 28, 2009 of an apparent drug overdose. Although DJ AM was found to have oxycodone, cocaine, hydrocodone, alprazolam, and lorazepam in his system, toxicology results also included the chemical levamisole, presumed to have been present as a cocaine adulterant. Goldstein’s death, while most likely due to the combined effects of the cocaine, opioids, and benzodiazepines has created public awareness of the cocaine epidemic and drug adulteration [2]. The Annals of Internal Medicine published a report describing five cases of agranulocytosis associated with cocaine adulterated with levamisole [3] and in Alberta, where some of the first reports of levamisole appeared, over 20 confirmed or probable cases of agranulocytosis, including at least two deaths, have been reported due to adulterated cocaine as of this past August. While levamisole may cause reversible agranulocytosis in up to 20% of individuals exposed to it, the true threat to the public health is unclear. What also remains unclear is why levamisole in particular is being used as a cocaine adulterant. Reviewing similar epidemics from history may provide some insight and understanding into this current epidemic and drug adulteration or contamination in general. Jamaican ginger extract, also known as Jake, was a patent medicine with a high ethanol content that was available in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. Although not T. J. Wiegand (*) Northern New England Poison Center, Maine Medical Center, Portland, ME, USA e-mail: timothywiegand@yahoo.com

Crash into Me (review)

Reviewed by: Crash into Me Deborah Stevenson Borris, Albert. Crash into Me. Simon Pulse, 2009. [272p.] ISBN 978-1-4169-7435-2 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 8-12 It's interest in death that brings teens Frank, Jin-Ae, Audrey, and Owen together on the Internet, after they each make various suicide attempts; now they're together on a cross-country trip to visit important suicide landmarks and finally end their journey—and their lives—in Death Valley. As the trip unfolds, they begin to share more about themselves, their sadness, and their fragile wishes, and their connection becomes stronger even as—or perhaps because—they're traveling toward its destruction. Borris nimbly juggles sharp, at times even jagged humor with genuine poignancy to construct a road trip that rises above the formula. Characters are [End Page 187] particularly well limned: Frank, the eternal loser, lured by athletic dreams that he can never fulfill; poetic Jin-Ae, tortured by her parents' expectations and their certain rejection of her lesbianism; maddening, high-energy Audrey, always dancing around the truth; and Owen, the narrator, wracked with nearly a decade's worth of secret guilt. It's unsurprising but believable that these kids would ironically find support and value in those who most share their self-destructive impulses, yet the book doesn't overdo the stealthy message of hope; sentiment is balanced out with the macabrely humorous lists the group concocts ("Top Ten Celebrity Death Sites") and refreshingly credible transcripts of their online chats. While the travelers do find themselves at a different, more positive place than they expected when they started, their story gives full respect to their pain; teens drawn by the subject will therefore appreciate the acknowledgment and, one hopes, find hope in the foursome's rediscovery of life. Copyright © 2010 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Negotiating death in contemporary health and social care

Holloway, M. Negotiating death in contemporary health and social care . Bristol : The Policy Press , 2007 viii + 216 pp. £60.00 (hbk) £19.99 ISBN 978-1-86134-722-0 ( pbk ) Holloway sets out in this book to provide a relevant knowledge base and a practice framework that is fit for purpose as a professional tool, and in so doing closely allies theoretical insights into death’s meanings in modern society with implications for contemporary professional health and social care practice. The author discusses attitudes and beliefs, issues of bereavement and grief, questions of euthanasia and assisted dying, assumptions and reality in respect of death in old age and end of life care, practices in regard to funerals and memorials, discussion of patterns and boundaries between public and private meanings of death, as well as current health and social care practice in respect of death and dying. Throughout the book the author makes brief and strategic use of case study material to illustrate discussion and in her final chapter usefully incorporates more detailed case studies to emphasise the ways in which theory can infuse and integrate with practice. Holloway articulates the often unstated but confounding influences in modern society that challenge our responses and actions, whether as general citizens or as professionals dealing with death and dying and highlights issues of personal control and choice, for example regarding timing and place of death, and human rights, for example balancing the rights of individuals and society in the context of euthanasia. Holloway argues that death is ‘complex’ in the social context of late modernity and valuably gives attention to sociological, philosophical and theological insights in addition to the more commonly aired ideas embedded in psychological and psychiatric perspectives. The aim of this broader examination is to provide a more integrated approach to the social as well as individual perspectives on death and, therefore, scope for better theoretical underpinning of practice and research. It is suggested that health and social care practice is not sufficiently co-ordinated in regard to an individual’s holistic needs at the end of life and also emphasises the importance of health and social care workers having time to provide necessary emotional support. Holloway consistently points out the relevance of paying close attention to religious and cultural dimensions, for example the need for practitioners to appreciate differences in how grief is expressed across cultures, but she does not lose sight of the fact that cultures are dynamic and so practitioners have to be sensitive to changing beliefs as well as tradition and also need to recognise that there are common features of grief that transcend cultures. The book is welcome and timely, given the demographic changes associated with an ageing population and the social, ethical and philosophical questions that arise. Holloway makes good use of a comprehensive range of references and helpfully includes ‘key questions for practitioners’ at the end of each chapter, to help the reader reflect on themes and their use in practice settings. The author also makes strategic use of vignettes, including material from the author’s practice, that exemplify key themes. I found the chapter on understanding bereavement and grief particularly helpful in regard to social care practice, as it includes a strong emphasis on the application of theory to practice in respect of attachment and loss, stage theories, continuing bonds and meaning-making. The same chapter includes a section on ‘special deaths’, such as murder, child death and drug overdose, to which could now be added, perhaps, the category of celebrity death, given the recent public attention to the deaths of Princess Diana and TV personality Jade Goody. Holloway argues that the general public are not sufficiently aware of advance care planning and advance directives and that as a result adults, whether young or old, tend to play a passive role in the way in which their end of life care is provided and managed. This may be particularly relevant in care homes, a setting where increasing numbers of older people receive end of life care and die but where, according to the author, staff typically lack confidence in talking about death and dying. Holloway usefully refers to pilot research that indicates the benefits of open discussion between care workers and service users, for example in regard to decisions on where to die, a finding that resonates with my own current research. Holloway is right to stress the central and enabling role of communication within good professional end of life care practice. The combination of thorough research, wide ranging theoretical perspectives and detailed examples from practice throughout the life course result in a fascinating and rewarding book that should appeal not only to those involved in palliative care but to health and social care professionals and academics across relevant disciplines.

The effects of a celebrity suicide on suicide rates in Hong Kong

BackgroundDeaths of celebrities, especially by suicide, can be followed by an increase in population suicide rates, particularly where there is extensive media reporting. We have examined the impact on suicides following the death of a famous Hong Kong pop singer whose death from suicide by jumping from a height, occurred on 1st April 2003, and resulted in extensive and often dramatic media coverage. MethodsData on suicides were obtained from the Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department and the Coroner's Court. The numbers of suicides in 2003 before and after the death of celebrity were compared to the same period in 1998–2002. The case files and suicide notes of people who died by suicide in 2003 were also studied qualitatively. ResultsThere was a significant increase in suicides following the celebrity death, compared with the average over the preceding three months as well as the corresponding monthly average during 1998–2002. It was particularly marked in a subgroup comprising males, aged 25–39 years, many of whom died by jumping. The name of the celebrity was often mentioned in case files and suicide notes. LimitationsThe statistical results in showing the excess of suicides were based on aggregated data only. ConclusionsThis study provides further confirmation of the potential harmful consequences of sensational and excessive reporting of celebrity deaths.

Web Forum: De Mortuis Bonum

Web Forum: De Mortuis Bonum