Why is Frist called Cat Killer?

[AllyCat]

I probably don't want to know the answer to this, but have had people ask me what it's about when I call him that.

I don't need anything graphic, just the basics. Thanks

[luvhawon]

1. When he was in med school

He'd go to animal shelters and "adopt" cats to practice his medical technique. All the cats died of course.
He wrote about this in his book.

[expatriot]

7. I didn't realize this. I was always curious but i never thought to ask.

fucking asshole. now it's _really_ personal (see avatar).

[newyawker99]

22. Hi luvhawon!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Moochy]

2. Harvard Medical School Massachusetts General Hospital.

"Frist is an animal lover who said his decision to become a doctor was clinched when he helped heal a friend's dog. But Frist now found himself forced to kill animals during medical research. And his new dilemma was finding enough animals to kill. Soon, he began lying to obtain more animals. He went to the animal shelters around Boston and promised he would care for the cats as pets. Then he killed them during experiments. 'It was a heinous and dishonest thing to do,' Frist wrote. 'I was going a little crazy.'"

from http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?ItemID=14308

[strategery blunder]

3. As a medical student, he "adopted" cats from animal shelters

Then, once he had the cats at home, he did various "experiments" on them.

I'll leave it at that, because I don't want to get too graphic either...

[Torgo Johnson]

4. When he was in med school

He used to adopt cats from the pound and kill them by performing medical experiments on them. What a sick fuck.

[AllyCat]

6. That is beyond sick....OMG. I can't believe he adopted them

and then killed them. And they gave this man a license to practice medicine? What more did I expect from a guy who diagnosed (incorrectly) a brain-dead woman from a video tape. :(

All our kitties are from the pound...it's horrifying to think someone might be out there doing this. Dogs too...man, is nothing sacred?

[liontamer]

5. why have you been calling him that if you don't know why?

Frist went to medical school during the time when all students had to find their own animals as there were not as many companies set up to supply them.

The cat dissection is pretty common so any doctor, nurse, nutritionist etc that you have ever had has dissected at least one cat.

If they are old enough, they might have had to find the cat themselves.

[expatriot]

8. couldn't have he gotten the ones that had been euthanized?

rather than the "adoptable" ones?

[AllyCat]

10. No, because that would have required a conscience.

And a soul.

[liontamer]

17. depends

if the shelter would give him euthanized animals
and if the shelter euthanized them in a manner that was consistent with experimental use. I don't know exactly what he was doing.

If he had formed an arrangement with a shelter he could have agreed to take all the animals that were about to be euthanized, but that would require a shelter that wanted to hand cats over to a researcher. A lot of people, even people who are willing to euthanize animals, are against it.

[Cobalt Violet]

20. He was trying to keep the heart beating outside the body.

So euthanized pets wouldn't have worked.

[AllyCat]

9. I knew he'd done something with experiments but didn't know what

That's why I kept calling him that.

As a nurse, I do remember having to dissect a cat. It was horrible. I hated that lab. Every day I would go home and hug my kitties after class. The professors told us most of them had been given/sold to the companies after people had them put to sleep at the vet. Since most municipalities won't allow vets to release the animals' bodies to the owners (fear of mass burials in yards, I guess), they have lots of dead pets on their hands. Some had come from shelters where they had been euthanized.

Maybe they just said that to make us feel better.

[Dr Fate]

11. This alone could sink his ill-fated Prez. bid.

It's the deception that makes this creepy.

The good folks at the Humane Shelter were probably glad this young man was giving the little guys a home- what a creepy guy.

[Wetzelbill]

12. I know it is creepy

I've always thought it was serial killer-type weird. I understand that they have to dissect cats, but he actually would lie to get live ones and do his thing. Ugh, it is pretty odd.

[Dr Fate]

14. The animal shelter folks thought he was rescuing the little guys...

...I just cant even fathom it- did he not get remorse or a funny feeling while he was doing this? If he did, he should have not gone through with it.

[Moochy]

15. Well "a little crazy" might just be the answer

'It was a heinous and dishonest thing to do,' Frist wrote. 'I was going a little crazy.'"

[AllyCat]

13. Creppy? Or crappy?

Ugh...that is just horrid. I realize we all have to learn, but couldn't he have done something besides misrepresenting his intentions and well...lying?? And to such an end! Poor things. I can't imagine what hideous things he did and I hope they didn't suffer.

[Dr Fate]

16. He was obviously not under any supervision when he did this- thus...

...not operating under ethical standards- so who knows what he did.

I also hope he is not lying about his claim that he anesthetized the little fellas.

[ElectroPrincess]

18. He's a cold hearted man ...

[left is right]

19. Has he genuinely renounced his former ways

or is there an unreported epidemic of cats that have gone missing in the DC area? Do people have to show some form of ID to adopt from a shelter? Do shelters not get curious if the same person keeps adopting pets? Perhaps, there are a lot of "adoptions" by persons who don't actually exist

[crispini]

21. That's why I hope he runs for President in 2008.

We could follow him everywhere and MEOW. It'd be waaaaaay too easy.