
An overdose,drug-fueled parties: The secret life of USC med school dean - hvo
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-usc-doctor-20170717-htmlstory.html
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leroy_masochist
Giving someone illegal drugs, watching them OD, then lying to the cops about
why they're passed out is pretty bad. Agree that if you get caught doing that
as a leader of a high-profile organization, you should get fired.

However, this article seems to be trying to whip up anger not just for that
particular case of depraved negligence, but more broadly for the fact that Dr.
Puliafito led a hard-partying secret double life.

The puritanical impulse to hold people to super-high standards of wholesome
rectitude in their private lives seems silly to me, and I think it's
ultimately to the detriment of large institutions, whether universities or
government or big corporations or whatever else. I'd much rather work for a
highly competent CEO who indulges a few vices in her private life than a soup
sandwich straight arrow, so long as the party animal keeps things professional
while at work.

[edited: previous draft erroneously said he gave his companion prescription
opiates, not the case]

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mijoharas
Does it say anywhere that he gave people prescription opiates? Only thing I
saw that was similar was him giving a prescription for an asthma inhaler.

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travisl12
It does not. It refers only to prescriptions for asthmas inhalers to treat
burned throats from smoking various drugs.

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rhombocombus
I honestly don't care what people do in their private lives, it sounds like he
managed his life pretty successfully in spite of his heavy drug use. The fact
that a physician let a young woman overdose in his company is pretty damn
slimy though, and an indication that he might not have been doing as good a
job keeping things under control as he thought.

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mijoharas
I've kind of got to agree.

Reminds me of a joke I read once, where someone says "I'm shocked that Lance
Armstrong was on drugs when he won the tour de france. When I was on drugs I
couldn't even find my bike.".

Well it seems this guy was able to find his bike, and I can't really say I
mind what he does in his private life.

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dmurray
This really doesn't seem like public interest reporting. It's well sourced and
not outwardly judgmental, but the facts of the story are all in the headline:
rich successful older man secretly does a lot of drugs and hangs around with
younger women. If he was an actor this wouldn't be news.

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danso
Maybe you're the rare HN user who doesn't care about police oversight, but
it's a public interest issue when police don't file reports for the wealthy
and connected. It's clearer in the LA Times follow-up stories that USC's
administration ignored the LAT for a year, including questions about how early
USC knew of the dean's incident:

[http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-usc-dean-
ethic...](http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-usc-dean-
ethics-20170723-story.html)

> It remains unclear when top USC officials first learned about the
> allegations involving Puliafito. But The Times made repeated inquiries over
> the last 15 months about Puliafito, in some cases describing information
> reporters had gathered about the dean. USC’s leaders never responded to the
> inquiries. Numerous phone calls were not returned, emails went unanswered
> and a letter seeking an interview with USC President C.L. Max Nikias to
> discuss Puliafito was returned to The Times by courier, unopened.

[http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-usc-dean-
pasadena-o...](http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-usc-dean-pasadena-
overdose-20170725-htmlstory.html)

> “As indicated in the article, initially there was no police report made of
> the incident,” Mermell said. “There should have been and that was a failure
> on the part of our responding officer. Once this came to light, [police]
> undertook an appropriate investigation and ultimately the involved officer
> was the subject of disciplinary action.”

If he were an actor, maybe this would just make TMZ. But he's not just an
actor, he's dean of a prestigious medical school. Just like Trump's tweets
aren't front page news until he became president.

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chmaynard
Based on these reports, I suspect that Puliafito is a psychopath and is unfit
to practice medicine. The refusal of USC authorities to recognize this and act
appropriately is the real scandal.

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m3andros
Here's the Pasadena Police interviewing Dr. Carmen Puliafito:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSRU0Ox1uT8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSRU0Ox1uT8)

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nextstep
So the guy uses drugs? Who gives a shit as long as he wasn’t operating on
patients under the influence.

But it’s fucked up if he didn’t try to help that woman to save himself or
protect his reputation.

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tech5000
"Puliafito has no known criminal record, and public records show no blemishes
on the medical licenses he holds in California and three other states. A
review of court records in those states found no malpractice claims against
him."

Wtf is wrong with the media that they can't let this person have a private
life, warts and all. Sad.

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danso
He was dean of USC's medical school during the time of the alleged events.

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mcguire
I'd heard US was a party school. Wow.

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rootsudo
Who cares?

