Of sheep and men

More snippets from the Times.

Running amuck
Happiness Is Three Sheep and a Dog

Laura Holson: On Sunday mornings when Steven Brill, a film director, is not on a movie set, he loads his border collie, Kep, into his car and drives 30 minutes to a private estate here overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Once there, Kep bounds out of the car into a fenced-in arena and for two 10-minute sessions herds three sheep in a circle, attentive to Mr. Brill's whistles and commands.

Mr. Brill, who directed "Mr. Deeds" and "Little Nicky," has been taking sheepherding classes with 10-year-old Kep for more than a year. "It may sound goofy, but it's a really interesting activity for me and the dog," he said. "It's a real communion between man and beast. It's therapeutic."

Besides, he joked, there is a practical side: "I don't need sheepherding to inform my work. But it helps me communicate better, and that's O.K."

Mr. Brill is one of a growing number of people in Los Angeles, including other entertainment professionals, who have been taking up sheepherding. For some, like Pat Crowley, a producer of the "Bourne" movies, it is a surer way to quiet a restless dog than an hour at the park. For others, corralling sheep can calm a dog who is fearful or bites. But for most owners sheepherding has become a way to connect with nature in a culture where palm trees, hair color and even friendships are often fake or manufactured.

Um... a bunch of people taking turns running three sheep around in circles on estate is what passes for something authentic in Hollywood?

No wonder these guys keep pumping out movies and tv shows with all-white casts; they really do live in their own world!

Playing God
Medical misstep

Randy Cohen's The Ethicist column: I'm a critical-care physician. An elderly Jehovah's Witness, unable to make decisions for himself, was admitted to my hospital with multiple organ dysfunction. A blood transfusion was indicated, but his family refused for religious reasons. One evening the on-call resident, unaware of the patient's faith, ordered a transfusion. The next morning, the ICU team noticed the blood hanging and immediately discontinued the transfusion. There were no clinical consequences. Disclosure would likely cause the family significant emotional distress. Must we tell them? -- Anonymous

You must. Is there a medical error that would not cause some emotional distress? Alas, a physician's duty to be honest is not limited to good news. It is tough for any of us to admit errors, and tough for patients and their families to forgive them. But if patients are to trust their medical teams, honesty is essential.

There are errors too trivial to mention, the medical equivalent of putting a tiny dink into a parked car: No note on the windshield required. That said, an error's significance is measured not only by its clinical consequences but also by its importance to the patient and his family. Here the family is apt to regard the matter as serious. A bioethicist friend adds, "If their beliefs were true and the patient never made it to heaven because of the blood transfusion but the rest of the family did, don't you think they would be upset?" She's right: You don't want them flinging down lightning bolts or harps or whatever it is people can do from up there

The question isn't if you should tell but how. It might help to talk to a Jehovah's Witness minister about the religious implications of an inadvertent transfusion or even to have this person join you in speaking to the family.

UPDATE: The patient subsequently died. The ICU team referred this question to the hospital's ethics board. Before getting a decision, which in any case is not binding, they decided not to tell, fearing that doing so would only add to the family's unhappiness and noting that nothing could be done now.

It's astonishing that a hospital would do this. It's one of the most patronizing, insensitive things I've ever heard of.

For all they know, Jehovah's Witness' have some sort of purifying rite that they could've held. I don't think the hospital would've decided to lie had the patient been Orthodox Jewish and they had fed him pork.

As Cohen says, there may well be hell for someone to pay in the afterlife.

Rolling up the shirtsleeves
Six Days That Shook New Jersey

David Chen and Laura Mansnerus: When the clock read 12:01 on July 1, Gov. Jon S. Corzine was at his desk at the State House, Assembly Speaker Joseph J. Roberts Jr. was across the street having a drink at the Trenton Marriott, and New Jersey was only hours from the first government shutdown in its history.

For the next six days, and largely out of public view, the state's elected leaders boxed over Mr. Corzine's demand that the sales tax be increased to 7 percent from 6 percent to put the state on sounder financial footing.

One Assembly Democrat from South Jersey tried to remove three North Jersey colleagues from the crucial Budget Committee because they refused to align themselves with Mr. Roberts, who himself is from Camden County in the south. Caucus meetings seemed awkward as some lawmakers clustered in cliques based not on the usual factors of friendship or geography, but by their stand on the budget.

The impasse led to scenes that were bizarre even by Trenton's relaxed standards. Mr. Corzine, a former co-chairman of Goldman Sachs and a multimillionaire, slept in a cot in his office for three straight days, going to Drumthwacket, the governor's mansion in Princeton, to shower.

And for three consecutive mornings, starting on Tuesday, Mr. Corzine demanded that legislators convene at 9 a.m. so that they could listen to him push his budget as fiscally responsible. Senate President Richard J. Codey called it "home room." ...

On Monday, Mr. Roberts issued a belligerent news release, calling for Mr. Corzine to identify the legislators who supported his proposal. A few hours later, Mr. Corzine demanded that the entire Legislature meet at 9 a.m. the next day -- known to the rest of the country as the Fourth of July.

And what better day to do the people's work, regardless of party affiliation, than the glorious Fourth.

I've always liked Corzine--he's not your typical politician, except for the fact that he's ambitious. He'll be running for president in 6 (or 10) years. I don't think he'll win though, America's not quite ready for a technocrat-in-chief; and if we were, we'd pick Michael Bloomberg's $5.1 billion over his $125 million.

All you need to know about how this former Goldman Sachs chief would run things is in this line from the follow-up Times piece, Corzine Ends 8-Day New Jersey Shutdown: “The lives of the people of New Jersey can now, at long last, begin to return to normal,” a bleary-eyed Mr. Corzine said shortly after 6 a.m. Mr. Corzine, who was wearing jeans, added that he was working on three hours of sleep.

I'd miss Jaywalk
Laugh Lines

David Letterman: Did you hear about this? North Korea might have missiles with the capabilities to reach the West Coast of the United States.

I got to thinking about it, and that's Leno's problem.

Graphic by Stuart Goldenberg in the Times.