Althouse: "Around Los Angeles, Dr. Puliafito garnered attention as a kind of bon vivant at glittery parties, grinning for the camera alongside celebrities like Pierce Brosnan, Martin Short and Jay Leno..."

July 28, 2017

"Around Los Angeles, Dr. Puliafito garnered attention as a kind of bon vivant at glittery parties, grinning for the camera alongside celebrities like Pierce Brosnan, Martin Short and Jay Leno..."

"... while bringing in as much as $9 million in a single night. But last week, this city was abuzz when a different side of the dean came to light after a scandalous report in The Los Angeles Times detailed how he associated with criminals and used drugs on campus, with some escapades captured in videos. Now the university is under intense scrutiny over the circumstances of Dr. Puliafito’s exit from the school’s leadership and whether the administration deliberately turned a blind eye to problems with a prodigious fund-raiser...."

"Blind eye"... is that an intentional metaphor? The subject is "world-class ophthalmologist" Dr. Carmen A. Puliafito. That guy didn't just get attention. He garnered it.

The article, in the NYT, is "At a Moment of Success, U.S.C. Is Rocked by Scandal."

18 comments:

Jael (Gone Windwalking) said...: I came to this blog to enjoy a sabbatical far away from my full-time work. And this is my vacation. I’ve already wasted too many years scouring Los Angeles streets looking for 34th and Vine. All I ever found was Pulafito. More on him after I get a few waivers.

I Am Not Laslo. Feste is an Aspiration. Colombo is ....; 7/28/17, 7:29 AM
Fernandinande said...: His prostitute was a lot better looking than the rubber-ducky pajama guy's prostitute.; 7/28/17, 7:40 AM
traditionalguy said...: Hollywood is where you chase you dreams. Cosmetic surgery creates beautiful women and drugs make them perform. That's Entertainment.; 7/28/17, 7:41 AM
MayBee said...: Sad to see how many in the comments over there think this was no big deal, or blame UCLA for trying to smear him in order to win their suit against USC.

A doctor who buys drugs for others, who continuously buys drugs for a woman just out of rehab, who impedes the responders when she's OD'd, and who provides drugs for a man *in* rehab. That's repulsive. That's against life.
His addiction seems to have been keeping addicts dependent on him.; 7/28/17, 8:01 AM
Josephbleau said...: I don't think you can keep your medical license if you take any illegal drug. So he will loose his profession also. I think it is ok with the bar assoc for a lawyer to take drugs.; 7/28/17, 8:03 AM
MD Greene said...: Look on the bright side: This matter distracts attention from the antics of the football team.; 7/28/17, 8:15 AM
CStanley said...: Well sure you're going to garner attention if you go to Hitlery parties,; 7/28/17, 8:20 AM
Stoutcat said...: Martin Short? Seriously? Martin Short hasn't been a glittery celebrity since the 1990s.; 7/28/17, 8:21 AM
Fernandinande said...: He was somehow associated with the development of optical coherence tomography, though a Japanese EE did the heavy lifting. That enabled some pretty cool images of my detached retina.; 7/28/17, 8:37 AM
Quaestor said...: So what was the topic of discussion at these glittery parties? The culpability of Prince Maximilian of Baden in the November crime?; 7/28/17, 9:39 AM
Howard said...: Was that Wrong?; 7/28/17, 10:40 AM
Earnest Prole said...: So it turns out crack-whores don't keep secrets very well. Who knew?; 7/28/17, 11:39 AM
Birches said...: Honestly, I don't know how unusual this is. A friend of mine married a hospital big wig. They did coke and other "party drugs" with the other docs.; 7/28/17, 11:47 AM
Big Mike said...: @Althouse, have I not been telling you that there are situations when "garner" is the only right word to use as a synonym for "acquire"?; 7/28/17, 1:31 PM
Michael K said...: He's a jerk.

I got so frustrated with the EHR at SC hospital and LA County that I wrote him a letter a couple of years ago.

He called me. He said, "That can't possibly be true !"

I asked how many hospital patients he had seen recently.

Nothing happened.

I quit a year later.; 7/28/17, 5:35 PM
Michael K said...: A friend of mine married a hospital big wig. They did coke and other "party drugs" with the other docs.

This is a real hazard with celebrity doctors. The guy who was trying to treat Don Simpson for his drug habit, died of an overdose himself.

Those drugs, however, represented only a fraction of the 15,000 sedatives, amphetamines, tranquilizers, antipsychotics, narcotics and other medications provided to Simpson over the last three years by a network of 15 local doctors and eight pharmacies. And those are just the medications that authorities have tracked so far.

The guy who gave Michael Jackson the Propothal lost his license and went to prison, I believe,

There are docs who seek that kind of patient but it is a nightmare.

Even hanging around those people is risky.; 7/28/17, 5:40 PM
EMyrt said...: Just why are so many drug dealers called Dr Feelgood?

https://youtu.be/1XHcPYorSJw; 7/28/17, 7:43 PM
Ken Mitchell said...: "deliberately turned a blind eye to"

In 1793, during a battle for the island of Corsica, Captain Horatio Nelson was injured and lost sight in his right eye.

During the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801, Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson's squadron was ordered to withdraw from battle by the senior commander, Admiral Parker. Nelson held the telescope to his right eye saying "I really do not see the signal", referring to the signal flags hoisted by the flagship.; 7/29/17, 10:41 PM