By Carl Weiser
WASHINGTON - A week after getting ‘‘killed’’ on ER, actress Kellie Martin resurfaced Thursday on Capitol Hill, lobbying
Congress to pass a bill that would create an institute to study autoimmune diseases.
Martin played Lucy Knight, a medical student who was stabbed to
death in the Feb. 10 episode and died Feb. 17 - an episode watched by 39
million Americans, the largest audience for any series since the finale
of ‘‘Seinfeld’’ in 1998.
In real life, Martin saw her only sibling, Heather, die in 1998
at age 19 of lupus, one of 80 known diseases linked to breakdowns in the body’s
immune system.
‘‘So many autoimmune diseases target young women. I’m a good person to
speak on it since I’m 24. And a woman,’’ said Martin, visiting the
office of Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., who is sponsoring the Senate version
of the bill.
The legislation would create a $1 million-a-year office at the National
Institutes of Health to coordinate studies of autoimmune diseases, in
which the body’s own immune system attacks the body. Many such diseases
are misdiagnosed because they have vague systems like fatigue, aches or
rashes.
In the case of Martin’s sister, Heather, doctors thought she had a
virus that caused a rash and stiff joints. Two months later she was
dead.
‘‘We got this crazy crash course,’’ Martin said. ‘‘It was incredibly
frightening.’’
Most patients with autoimmune diseases suffer for five years and visit
six physicians before being diagnosed, a survey conducted by the
American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association showed. Many symptoms
cross medical specialties such as dermatology and rheumatology, making
it harder for specialists to figure out the root problem.
‘‘The patient is not taken seriously,’’ said Virginia T. Ladd,
executive director of the East Detroit, Mich.-based association. ‘‘But
the patient knows something is seriously wrong.’’
Autoimmune diseases include lupus, multiple sclerosis, scleroderma,
polymyositis and some diabetes.
‘‘Now that I’m dead,’’ Martin said, she plans to reapply to Yale
University to finish her fourth and final year. Martin, who married
lawyer Keith Christian last year, said she’s also considering several
television pilots and an action movie.
‘‘I can’t go from ER to a schlock show,’’ she said.
Martin said her character was killed off because she was getting lost
amid the 13 regular cast members, and because Lucy already had been
around for more than a year, even though most medical students rotate
through in six weeks.
‘‘My med student story line burnt out,’’ she said. ‘‘It just wasn’t
happening.’’
She said she originally was miffed at the way she was to be killed off,
preferring something less dramatic. ‘‘I thought it was rather cruel and
unusual,’’ she said, but she came to appreciate it.
‘‘If you have to exit a show, that’s the way to do it,’’ she said.