AMC’s Better Call Saul star Bob Odenkirk admitted that he suffered a heart attack after ignoring his “conservative jackass” doctor’s advice, adding that he learned that a physician’s political views are irrelevant to his professional competence.
Bob Odenkirk spoke about the traumatic experience in an interview on comedian Tig Notaro’s podcast.
“My doctor was a conservative. He got crankier and crankier the older he got,” the actor recalled.
“When I was 50, I went in, he was a heart doctor, Cedars Sinai, and he had signs up all around his office at this point –‘We do not accept Obamacare,’ and I fucking hated this side of him that I only learned over time.”
Odenkirk said he had been seeing the doctor for more than 20 years when the doctor told him: “You need to start taking statins right now.”
The actor said he ignored him and consulted another doctor who told him not to worry.
“And I had a heart attack,” said Odenkirk. “And I think the first doctor was right, the cranky, conservative jackass was right, because he was a damn good doctor. His political point of view doesn’t have anything to do with his ability to judge your health and your health choices and needs.”
“I’ve always felt that way about art, too,” Odenkirk said.
In 2021, Odenkirk collapsed on the New Mexico set of Better Call Saul and had to be hospitalized. It remains unclear if this was the medical emergency he was referring to.
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