A second update in a day is cause for some concern, normally.  You’d think I’d be happy that CBS News talked about infantile spasms on the premiere evening news broadcast, even if briefly.

After focusing on insurance executives complaining to Congress that only 5% of the $2.5 trillion spent on healthcare is profit for them (that’s $100 billion in profit annually after every single expense, by the way, so don’t feel too sad for them), they briefly spoke with Sydney and her father.  I tried extracting the family name out of the audio, but I suspect it’s harder to spell than my own, so I’ll just link the video here (4:09 with a brief ad in the beginning).  Sydney and her dad are at two minutes and fifty one seconds into the video.  Go watch it, I’ll be here when you’re done.

Yes, they showed what looked to me to be an absence seizure, maybe a severe drop.  Yes, Dad called it a seizure.  It’s overall a pretty good video, so what am I kvetching about?

Two minutes.  It would have taken two minutes on Google before the news video aired to figure out that the disease isn’t called “Infant Spasms” and that two minutes would have included time to get a cup of coffee first.  CBS News is a major news organization, and you’re telling me that an intern, a mid-level research aid, a fact checker, or Katie Couric herself didn’t have the time to check the facts on this before airing?  The disease is so far under the radar as it is, we need all the awareness we can get, and this gets botched.

The CBS news desk phone number is (212) 975-4114, if you’re so inclined to call and correct this matter.  If you call, be polite. 

Yeah, I’m steamed about this.  I’m thrilled that somebody in a major news organization decided to include a family with IS, but I’m upset at how it was handled.