Cruise Inspires Law in California, Frenzy in NYC
By Natalie Finn
2 hours, 31 minutes ago
Tom Cruise's decision to import an at-home sonogram machine to check out baby Suri's every move before she made her worldly debut may have seemed a little wacky to people. But one California lawmaker thinks it was a downright dangerous maneuver.
Democratic Assemblyman Ted Lieu has introduced a bill that would prohibit the selling, leasing or distributing of an ultrasound machine by California manufacturers to anyone other than licensed medical professionals. The state assembly is scheduled to debate the bill Thursday.
"If someone sees Tom Cruise buy one, they think this is the thing to do," Lieu said. "This is a public safety measure. There's really no medical reason for an untrained person to use this machine."
Although it seems difficult to believe that too many people are jumping on this particular Cruise bandwagon, as of Wednesday there was just such a device listed on eBay for $5,500. Hopefully whoever buys that also has the money to employ a fulltime doctor.
Doctors, nurses and medical technicians undergo years of training, not just to become licensed professionals but also to figure out all the knobs, switches and doodads on an ultrasound machine, which provides expectant parents with their first glimpse of a fetus's shape. Having a number of sonograms over the course of a pregnancy is recommended to monitor the baby's health in utero.
Ultrasounds are also used to check out adult's organs for irregularities and other problems and the machine needs to be set on a higher wave frequency to get the best view.
At the time Cruise announced his purchase, doctors and radiologists slammed the move.
"This is a patient safety issue. Untrained people, even if they have the financial means, should not buy, or be allowed to buy and operate, ultrasound machines which are, in fact, medical devices and should not be used without a medical indication," said Dr. Carol M. Rumack, chair of the American College of Radiology's Ultrasound Commission.
Well, lucky for Suri she's out of the womb, because Cruise couldn't be more enamored of his baby girl. He appeared on CBS's
The Late Show with David Letterman Tuesday night gushing, as usual, about the lovely ladies in his life.
"She's a beauty--it's crazy," Cruise told his host. "Kate and I can't take our eyes off of her." He added that his mother and Holmes' mom, who reportedly was by her daughter's side throughout the later days of her pregnancy, are dishing out lots of childrearing advice to the happy couple.
Regarding his fiancee, Cruise sang his usual song. "She's magnificent," he told Letterman. "She has done so well�an incredible woman."
Meanwhile, with his ultrasounding days behind him for the time being, Cruise probably doesn't feel the need to concern himself with the California Assembly, especially since he's currently speeding through New York.
His whirlwind promotional tour of the Big Apple to promote
Mission: Impossible III's Friday release jumpstarted Wednesday afternoon, with Cruise traversing the town by fire truck, helicopter, motorcycle, speedboat, sports car and subway train.
What, no hang gliders or horses were available?
After appearances on
Live with Regis and Kelly and
Good Morning America Cruise kicked off the six-hour-long "Mission: NYC" surrounded by hundreds of fans in Times Square for a taping of MTV's
Total Request Live, where he was told by host Vanessa Minnillo that he was "a wonder of the world."
When the fire engines arrived to pick him up, Cruise referred to the firefighters as his buddies. "These are my heroes," he said.
Somewhere along the line he switched his mode of transport to a motorcycle, on which he pulled up at the TriBeCa Performing Arts Center to greet the crowd assembled for the movie's first showing at the Tribeca Film Festival.
After signing autographs and posing for pictures, he was off again behind the wheel of an orange sports car. Cruise was also scheduled to swing through Harlem and motorboat up the Hudson River before ending up at the Ziegfeld Theatre for
Mission: Impossible III's official U.S. premiere, also in association with the TriBeCa fest.
�Tom has always enjoyed finding new ways to connect with the fans and we�re both excited to be sharing the movie with [the festival] on this incredible stage,� Paula Wagner, one of the film's producers, said in a statement.
While that itinerary is enough to get anyone's heart pumping, we can only assume that Cruise is mostly excited for the plane ride he's set to take following his publicity jaunt, which will take him back to L.A. for a Thursday premiere at Grauman's Chinese Theater and, most importantly, back into the arms of Kate and Suri.
from Yahoo news
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