The SMU community will soon get the opportunity to see a documentary about a girl who may cry blood.
The documentary features a girl named Twinkle, and will be shown on campus at 5 p.m. on Sept. 16 at an event sponsored by Alpha Epsilon Delta (AED), the pre-med honor society.
Twinkle, 13 years old, claims she bleeds impulsively from her eyes, hands and scalp, but doctors find no cuts or scrapes to explain where the blood is coming from.
Dr. George Buchanan, director of the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders at Children’s Medical Center of Dallas, was asked to travel 9,000 miles to India to study Twinkle’s medical case for the National Geographic documentary. Dr. Buchanan and National Geographic hope to find an explanation to this medical phenomenon.
Buchanan’s personal feelings are portrayed in the film. However, as a respected doctor, he always gives his patients the benefit of the doubt.
“Right from the start I suspected that her bleeding was factitious,” he said. “I believe that Twinkle most likely has a condition in the spectrum of disorders entitled Münchausen syndrome. This is a condition where disease manifestations are purposely induced or falsified by a patient to gain attention and sympathy.”
Buchanan’s motivation to do the film was to help show what blood specialists do. He wants to show medical students that it’s more than just a test when trying to diagnose a patient’s problem. It’s about probing and questioning a patient’s medical history to really diagnose what is going on with a patient. This was the right way to handle such a mysterious case that Twinkle had, where the answers were not just going to come out of a test result.
This event will showcase the film that previewed on the National Geographic channel Sept. 13.
Dr. Buchanan’s wife, Christine Buchanan, head of the AED and professor of biological professions at SMU, said that pre-med students interested in anthropology, psychology, religious studies and even journalism should attend the event.
Razan Hamideh, a senior majoring in psychology, said the documentary would be something she is interested in seeing.
“I would watch it because it sounds interesting. I would want to know how and why she cries blood,” she said. “I am a psychology major, so to hear that the blood might be self-inflicted interests me and makes me want to know why someone would do that.”
“The Girl Who Cries Blood” documentary will be shown in Fondren Science Building, Room 133. Dr. George Buchanan will be present to answer questions after the film and discuss the medical mystery he witnessed.
Mrs. Buchanan said, “The hook for our program is that Dr. George Buchanan will be present to discuss the filming, the case itself, his candid opinions and all the interesting stuff that was not covered in the film. He has a lot to add that was not in the film, because he has consulted extensively with other physicians about this case since returning to the States. It is an opportunity for SMU students to ask all the follow-up questions that are triggered by viewing the film.”
