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Concerned viewers urge Aurora police chief to see a doctor about lump on neck

Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman has gotten the message and she's going to see a doctor about a suspicious lump on her neck.

It's not something she wants to talk about, but the lump drew unexpected attention during a Tuesday news conference concerning last week's mass shooting.

Ziman downplayed the matter Wednesday, saying she doesn't consider it newsworthy and wants the community's focus to remain on the victims, their families and the first responders.

But within three hours of the televised news conference, Ziman, her administrative assistant and the department's public information officer were “inundated” with phone calls and email messages from viewers urging her to get the lump checked out.

So she decided to post on her own Facebook page around 8 p.m. Tuesday to let people know she heard them and they could stop writing and calling.

“I have received 63 emails and 12 voicemails (yes I'm keeping track) from perfectly perfect strangers advising me they saw a lump on my neck during the news conference. I'm not sure if it's possible to violate HIPAA on myself so I might be on the run from the HIPAA police,” she wrote.

“It's probably going to turn out to be a peanut butter M&M lodged in my throat, but rest assured, I have made an appointment with my doc. Thanks for looking out beautiful people.”

HIPAA is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act that bars most releases of medical information without the patient's consent, including whether a person is a patient.

Ziman also showed a screenshot of a message in which the writer suggested she might have a problem with her thyroid gland. Many of the commenters on the post also suggested that.

The thyroid is a gland at the bottom of the neck. It releases hormones that control metabolism.

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