Talk:Patch Adams

Biography assessment rating comment
The article may be improved by following the WikiProject Biography 11 easy steps to producing at least a B article. -- KenWalker | Talk 06:25, 18 July 2007 (UTC)

Patch's response
The following was recently removed from the page:


 * Response to this statement from Patch Adams:
 * In my experience depression is not an illness it is a symptom and the illness is loneliness. And I do think one can place friends in their thinking so that they have no loneliness. I actually don't perceive that I am representing an answer rather a possible direction. That one can compose their own life using thinking, play, friends, and do what they decide to do whatever they want to do. What I have found most effective was to have an environment described in my book, Gesundheit and my website. If one chooses to work with mental illness without psychiatric medications, this kind of complex environment makes me feel safe not giving medication which is why I've insisted on not continuing until the whole facility is built. When we re-open as a hospital there will be doctors who prescribe psychiatric medications. I think my second book House Calls gives a brief introduction of directions for mental health and that we want a facility where all those things can be dynamic. We do not think we are right, rather, we are a direction, an individual's choice.

I am personally friends with Patch, and we had a discussion about the utility of Wikipedia in which he voiced his frustration that, when he tried to respond to comments on the page about him, the stuff kept getting deleted. The guy doesn't use email and he's rather computer-tarded. Nonetheless, it's Wikipedia policy to only include info that can be externally cited, so his comments cannot thus be included until they can be cited. Next time I see him I'll let him know that he ought to post this comment on his main web site in order that it can be cited here and stay up. In the meantime, please leave his comment here on the talk page so that it can eventually be restored. Thanks. --Cajolingwilhelm 04:44, 18 April 2007 (UTC)

This entry is biased!
So just who in the heck is this David Oaks, and where does he get off saying 'President Bush wants to test all Americans for "mental illness"? How does he know this? Has President Bush ever suggested such a thing? Sounds kindof Orwellian--and very un-Bush-like. I suspect David Oaks is totally fabricating this, pulling kook conspiracy theories out of his @ss.

And then we've got Adams' response: "volunteering to screen President Bush, 'He needs a lot of help. I'll see him for free.'" Ha ha. Real funny! Does this sort of thing belong in an encyclopedia entry?!? I suspect it was included here as a deliberate, cheap swipe at the president.


 * see this entry on Bush's "very un-Bush-like plan".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Freedom_Initiative


 * We'll look into getting some out-of-touch rightwing wackos to even things out as soon as they leave office. But in all seriousness if you really think the article is imbalanced feel free to edit it and balance it out, include a link to a site or excerpt from an article (quote sources also please) that offers a counterpoint to his statements. A neutral point of view is what we are going for here and if you have information that isn't covered please contribute. As to weather something should be included or not I believe it should be. Whatever he has said of note, weather it be serious or not, true or false, left wing or right wing is irrelevant. Just because he is critical of the current US president does not mean the things he has said do not deserve mention in this article. A balanced point of view and a nurtured point of view are not one and the same and we are not looking for the latter. If he had said the same thing about former president Clinton would you still have issue with his statement? Isn't that letting your own bias colour the nature of the article?

[NOTE: Original hostile quotes from blog not quite WP:RS that do not name Adams as the target removed as libel; thus response below.]


 * I doubt he was being disrespectful, that is just how he dresses 100% of the time as far as the wedding goes, he also has an extremely busy schedule. He gets like a month or so of downtime throughout the year. The rest is spent traveling.  From someone who has spent a decent amount of time with the man none of that quote from Emerson rang true.  I have never experienced any of that.  He has always been humble, funny, interesting, intelligent, and enjoyable.  I've also probably spent more time with him than Emerson ever has.  Also if anyone is truly curious, you can write him.  He lists his address on his website and answers all of his correspondence.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.32.125.171 (talk) 23:39, 14 July 2010 (UTC)

Where is the bias
I don't think the article should be marked, because it doesn't make any statement regarding Patch's honesty or suitability/skills as a doctor, it just talks about known facts. If there are indeed opposed views about his work, they should be mentioned, quoting sources, and end of story. People, please try to slowly and carefully read and understand what a NPOV is.

This Article Needs Some Photos
OK this article has my interest. Apparently Hunter "Patch" Adams also is credited in the new documentary on military brats-- "Brats: Our Journey Home". So I'd like to see a photo somewhere to see who this guy is. Also does he appear in the Brats documentary or did he help out in some other way?

Sean7phil 17:05, 31 January 2007 (UTC)

Medical training
Where did he recieve his training. I thought someone told me he never finished a residency. --Gbleem 14:36, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

From numerous websites, he only completed his internship (first year) of his pediatric residency at Georgetown University. Does he have a license to practice medicine? If you only do a year of residency I don't think he could have been board certified in anything. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 141.214.17.5 (talk) 18:03, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

He would be able to practice as a general practitioner without completing residency training once he had finished his internship. Cajolingwilhelm (talk) 04:38, 7 July 2008 (UTC)


 * He was licensed to practice medicine in Virginia and probably District of Columbia. (He had a job as venereal disease control physician for Arlington County or its public schools, and a job at St. Elizabeth's Hospital.)  He once sought a license in Maryland (to work in a Silver Spring, MD, acupuncture clinic), and wished to get one in West Virginia for the planned clinic.  He was very concerned that behavior of some his housemates could put his license in jeopardy.  It's my understanding that he surrendered his license(s) some years ago, maybe about the time he and Linda split.  Alas, I don't have citations handy for any of this.  Most of it is based on personal acquaintance.--AndersW (talk) 20:33, 16 December 2008 (UTC)

WikiProject class rating
This article was automatically assessed because at least one WikiProject had rated the article as start, and the rating on other projects was brought up to start class. BetacommandBot 16:01, 9 November 2007 (UTC)

Gusendheit Institute
This article seems to say more about the Institute than its own article does. Should these articles be merged, or should the Institute-related information in this article be reduced and added to the main article? Ashley {talkback} 01:05, 9 March 2008 (UTC)

Phrase Needs Rewrite
This sentence --


 * "Soon after graduation, Patch, Linda, and friends founded the Gesundheit! Institute (originally known to many as the Zanies), which ran as a free community hospital for 12 years. They married, had two children, ..."

-- needs a rewrite (which I'll leave for someone familiar with the subject matter).

I know what it means to say, but grammatically, the phrase "They married" seems to say that "They" are "Patch, Linda, and friends". As a physician he may be unorthodox, but I don't think the marriage laws allow for the union of Patch and Linda and an unspecified number of friends ....

Karl gregory jones (talk) 03:52, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

Broken Link
The Joy to the World link appears to be defunct. 68.229.185.85 (talk) 08:04, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

youtube is not a reliable source
Please refrain from adding youtube videos as sources. They will be deleted per WP:RS. Dlabtot (talk) 07:28, 1 March 2010 (UTC)

Not reliable? Why not? The videos I provided are of actual interviews that Adams gave, so why are they not reliable? Bibbly Bob (talk) 22:19, 5 April 2010 (UTC)
 * I'm sorry I have to run and don't have time for a lengthier answer, but I'm basing this on numerous discussions at the reliable sources noticeboard... long story short, take this for example: . The youtube page says it is an interview, released for Italian financial newspaper "Il Sole 24 Ore".... so in this case the actual source is Il Sole 24 Ore, if it can be confirmed that they hold themselves accountable for it. Anyone can upload stuff to youtube...there are other issues, such as, did Placido Losacco have permission from the copyright holder to upload this clip?...again sorry I can't give a more detailed response right now, I will say more tomorrow. Dlabtot (talk) 23:29, 5 April 2010 (UTC)

Nickname
It would be nice if this article included a brief explanation of how he got the nickname "Patch" Alsd2 (talk) 14:40, 26 March 2011 (UTC)
 * This article from the New York Times says that he's not certain where the nickname came from (although I believe the writers of the film gave a fictional origin). I'm not too sure how to work it in to the current article structure but if someone can find the way...  Ka Faraq Gatri (talk) 15:16, 26 March 2011 (UTC)

Media references to this article
Is it appropriate to put a box on this talk page about the fact that the Nostalgia Critic references, and even apparently shows part of this exact article on his ipod during his episode on Patch Adams? He shows what appears to be the "early career" paragraph at 21:00 here

http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/thatguywiththeglasses/nostalgia-critic/34253-patch-adams

--Dudeman5685 (talk) 15:40, 31 March 2012 (UTC)

Source request

 * Convinced of the powerful connection between environment and wellness, he believes the health of an individual cannot be separated from the health of the family, community, and the world.

Since this insight is framed in terms of the 1960s, I'm curious how it was received. I ask, because if one studies the literature of the counterculture of the 1960s, one will inevitably come to the conclusion that this statement represents the core, fundamental insight often associated with psychedelics. In preparation for a new article on this subject, I've briefly touched upon this idea here, which is why I'm looking for a source for the above as it would aid both this article and the article I have in development. Thanks. Viriditas (talk) 00:50, 13 August 2015 (UTC)

Explanation of Admission to Medical School.
The fact is that admissions to the "prestige" universities, before 1970 were a joke and depended on social status. So, what what were the requirements in the late 1960s when Adams got admitted to the Commonwealth of Virginia Medical School? No BA required? Heck, my fellow students at Johns Hopkins in the late 1970s would have gotten apoplectic to know this. (I am not a physician and never planned to be one.) There needs to be am explanation of why CVU med school took a student with not undergrad degree in the article. This is not an attack on the subject of this article, but many would-be medical students might find this admission "interesting" and would want to know why. 138.51.38.133 (talk) 22:38, 12 January 2024 (UTC)

Adams support for abortion and euthanasia
It needs to be included in this article that Adams is a public of supporter of the abortion of unborn children and the killing of the the elderly: https://inquisition.ca/en/philo/artic/patch_adams.htm The current article is a false unless this is included. Patch is not all that funny when he wants to kill human beings for convenience. 138.51.38.133 (talk) 00:09, 13 January 2024 (UTC)