Hospitals, MedCity Influencers

Hollywood on patients: Noble suffering is OK, but angry and in pain is not

The list of 2015 Oscar nominees has already been criticized a lot. Too white, too […]


The list of 2015 Oscar nominees has already been criticized a lot. Too white, too male and no nominations for the Lego Movie or Selma.

They also ignored “Cake” that stars Jennifer Aniston. She is a woman who lives in chronic pain. Apparently she is also a jerk, as she gets kicked out of a support group. I’m not sure what she did to deserve that, but as an apology, she brings a bottle of vodka to the therapist who runs the group. A review in Variety describes her character:

Claire’s real crime, apparently, is that she says whatever is on her mind with zero concern for how others will receive it, which may make her a difficult person to encounter in real life, but gives her a strong enough rooting interest where the audience is concerned.

One review described her as “a mixed bag of comedy, compassion, resentment and self-pity, to the point that she becomes too far removed from reality to truly resonate as a genuine person.”

Another review explains that a “car crash has left with scars on her face and body and constant agony in her legs and back. … it’s rendered her permanently pissy: short of fuse, forever of headache, sleepless, no fun, low on compassion.” That sounds like what daily pain does to a person.

Most of us don’t know what living in intense pain every day does to your mental and emotional state. Maybe Aniston’s character is a faithful representation of what that looks like.

Why should people go see a movie about a person living in intense pain every day? Why should the movie be recognized by the Academy Awards? Because chronic pain is one of the biggest healthcare problems in America. In 2011, the Institute of Medicine released a report about chronic pain and called it a huge unsolved problem:

Chronic pain affects about 100 million American adults — more than the total affected by heart disease, cancer, and diabetes combined. Pain also costs the nation up to $635 billion each year in medical treatment and lost productivity. … Pain represents a national challenge. A cultural transformation is necessary to better prevent, assess, treat, and understand pain of all types. … A number of barriers—including regulatory, legal, institutional, financial, and geographical barriers—limit the availability of pain care and contribute to the disparities found among some groups.

Aniston worked with a stunt woman who had been injured many times to understand how to move as the character of Claire Bennett:

Talking to women, or men, who are suffering from chronic pain on a daily basis — it is so unimaginable. I mean, I was so grateful for my body at the end of the day.

Even if you don’t care about people living in pain not getting the right care, you should care about the financial burden to society of people addicted to pain meds. Abuse of prescription painkillers is killing a lot of people. According to a CDC report from July 2010, nearly 28,000 Americans died from unintentional drug poisoning in 2007, and of these, nearly 12,000 involved prescription pain relievers. A SAMHSA report from 2010 noted that the estimated number of emergency department visits linked to non-medical use of prescription pain relievers nearly doubled between 2004 and 2009.

Telling the story of what daily life is like when you are crippled – physically and emotionally – through no fault of your own would help to solve this national problem that the IOM called out.

“Cake” didn’t make the best picture nominee list and Aniston didn’t make the best actress list. Another patient story did win the Academy’s notice. Julianne Moore is a Columbia professor of linguistics who gets early-onset Alzheimer’s in “Still Alice.” Aniston’s character is alone and drives away even the physical therapist who tries to help her. Moore’s character is surrounded by loving children and a hunky husband (Alec Baldwin). Certainly Moore’s character does a service in the name of Alzheimer’s awareness, but that disease doesn’t the PR challenge that chronic pain does.

It’s easy to see why Moore is in the running for best actress while Aniston isn’t. The “Still Alice” trailer says “Live in the moment.” That message is much more familiar and welcome than the “Cake” message, which is “Sometimes everything is a mess and you do awful things.”

In “The Imitation Game” Kiera Knightly’s character says to Alan Turing, “They are not going to help you if they do not like you.”

Aniston was not likeable in “Cake,” so her story of living with chronic pain did not get the recognition it deserves.

http://youtu.be/ZrXrZ5iiR0o


Veronica Combs

Veronica is an independent journalist and communications strategist. For more than 10 years, she has covered health and healthcare with a focus on innovation and patient engagement. Most recently she managed strategic partnerships and communications for AIR Louisville, a digital health project focused on asthma. The team recruited 7 employer partners, enrolled 1,100 participants and collected more than 250,000 data points about rescue inhaler use. Veronica has worked for startups for almost 20 years doing everything from launching blogs, newsletters and patient communities to recruiting speakers, moderating panel conversations and developing new products. You can reach her on Twitter @vmcombs.

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