The Vindication of Doug Burns

The strange case of Doug Burns is over. Mr. Universe has been vindicated – and the diabetic patients who rallied to his cause feel they’ve won as well.
Burns, of course, is the type 1 patient who last year became a literal poster boy for diabetic achievement when he was named “Mr. Universe.” But in April he garnered unwanted national attention when he was arrested for assaulting police officers and resisting arrest at a movie theater in Redwood City, California. (See Close Concerns’ blog on May 8.)
The episode turned an otherwise obscure body builder into a diabetic martyr.
It all began on April 1 when Burns miscalculated his insulin dose prior to going to the movies (he normally uses a pump but had to switch to injections when he ran out of infusion sets). Burns began acting erratically, and a security guard at the theater called the police because he thought that Burns was drunk. Actually, Burns’s behavior was caused by his hypoglycemia, which left him dazed. That was not simply his contention – he had proof. When his blood sugar was checked following the incident (either at a hospital Emergency Room or by paramedics on site), it was 26 mg/dL.
Burns only vaguely recalls what actually happened outside the theater, where he had his encounter with the police officers. According to media reports, Burns assumed a fighting stance when the police arrived, and at some point the officers sprayed him with mace, beat him, and handcuffed him. A photograph taken after his arrest shows him with welts on his forehead.
Burns was wearing a medic alert bracelet, but it apparently broke during the fight. He later found it in his pocket.
The incident should have ended once paramedics arrived and instructed the officers to remove the handcuffs because Burns was in hypoglycemic shock. The event would have been a stark reminder of why authorities need more education about diabetes and, for Burns, a painful lesson on the dangers of low blood sugar.
Instead, the Redwood City District Attorney charged Burns with criminal assault and resisting arrest, and a trial was set for July 2.
The charges defied common sense: the police department’s own reports confirmed that Burns’s blood sugar was 26 mg/dL, so no jury, once educated about hypoglycemia, would hold Burns responsible for his actions.
But the court of public opinion – specifically, the diabetes community – was already issuing its own harsh judgment.
Jeff Hitchcock, the widely respected founder of Children with Diabetes, spoke out on Burns’s behalf. In addition to our own blog, Burns became the subject of numerous diabetic blogs, including Amy Tenderich’s www.diabetesmine.com. Tenderich urged readers to leave “angry messages” on the answering machines of Redwood Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe and Assistant District Attorney Morley Pitt. Tenderich included their phone numbers. Burns, meanwhile, found himself on the June/July cover of Diabetes Health (“Mr. Universe! His Journey from Scrawny Boy to Brawny Hero”), which included a detailed account of Burns’s confrontation with the police.
Unintentionally, Mr. Universe had been turned into a martyr, a larger-than-life symbol of all the slights and biases that people with diabetes regularly face. If Burns had gone to trial, imagine the uproar! If hypoglycemia could lead to jail time, what’s next? A stiff fine for a high A1c? Probation for retinopathy?
In fact, Burns’s lawyer, Micah Jacobs, told Tenderich that the initial police report made no reference to Burns’ attacking the police. “It's one thing if he would have harmed someone and could later prove that it was a medical issue,” Jacobs said. “But nothing even happened, and he can prove it was a medical issue.”
Alas, Burns never needed his day in court: his case was dismissed today (Wednesday). The assistant district attorney told Tenderich: “We have conducted further investigation and concluded that there is insufficient evidence to prosecute the case against Mr. Burns.”
We’re delighted for Doug Burns and wish him all the best, though we suspect that a public trial – replete with television cameras, legal pundits, and exhaustive medical analysis – would have been a bracing education for the rest of the country and would have made Mr. Universe a true global figure.

By James S. Hirsch

Comments

[euro teens]

The community should provide adequate programs to help juvenile delinquents

[Ann]

I like your blog, it’s always fun to come back and check what you have to tell us today.

[Kelly Close]

Great and frightening story about the driving and hypoglycemia Amy (frightening more than great, but thank you as always for filling us in, even on something -- especially on something -- so scary). In my view, there is no excuse for anyone with diabetes to get in a car and drive and not test first - and even though it's a huge pain, for anyone who has hypoglycemic unawareness of any degree, there isn't an excuse for continuing to drive and not stopping to test regularly if it is a long trip.

I think Doug's case is a little different for various reasons - but most of this is covered in the reactions to Amy's blog. Definitely encourage readers to go there - it is sobering, but so important for us all to keep in mind the very scary things that can happen.

In the wake of the Avandia and rimonabant recent goings on in DC, I've been saying that even insulin wouldn't be approved today. Of course that's wrong - the benefit (it saves lives) is so high that the risk of severe hypoglycemia is still considered an acceptable trade off. Great. So that puts the pressure on patients with diabetes who are at risk of hypoglycemia to check their BG more frequently - especially those of us who drive a lot (thankfully, I don't). I think it's pretty reasonable for us to be expected to be hypervigilant - especially looking at those pictures.

[AmyT]

Unfortunately, there is a darker side to all this. See my latest post at
http://www.diabetesmine.com/2007/06/when_things_get.html .

- AmyT

[Kelly Close]

Anna who?

Actually, both would be great. And, of course, we wouldn't wish Doug any harm, either, so it's FAR far better for him to have this resolved. People just respond to hype - sad but true, it's one kind of education.

A public spokesperson would be great - even just more people who already HAVE it who are already celebrities/public figures who are willing to speak out would be nice. I can think of a couple of people in particular who are diabetic but never talk about it - but who sure would receive attention if they would be willing to speak out. For whatever reason they haven't. It's not a responsibility for them to do so, but just - it would be nice.

On a personal note, I think the war in Iraq _should_ be working against the party that engineered it, so I can't argue there.

[Scott]

Very interesting perspective! However, my personal feeling is that rather than using a public trial as education for the rest of the country, we would be far better off with a public figure actually living with this disease rather than a flash-in-the-pan trial that makes news for a short period, then becomes tomorrow's forgotten news story (it won't be long before Anna Nicole Smith becomes a forgotten page in news history).

While we have Mike Huckabee with type 2 diabetes as a potential Presidential candidate, I don't see him likely to emerge, as his Republican rivals have raised far more money than he has, and the political pendulum seems to be swinging away from the Republicans as the lingering war in Iraq seems to be working against the party that engineered it. Only time will tell, but I still believe that until we have a prominent public spokesman (e.g. politician) with the disease, it will not receive the public attention it really deserves.