This is not really a patient safety (or quality) story today. But it is a story of about how we might stay safe when exposed to dilemmas that need good decisions. If you are making a decision about how to fix your car, I assume that most of you want someone with expertise to provide input. I assume if someone you love is ill or needs major surgery you want Someone with medical or surgical expertise.
Yet, this article us to the possibility of physicians removing themselves from the dialogue when the topic might be controversial, or more accurately, more political. Make no mistake, this article is an advertisement for The Academy of Medicine at Cincinnati, but it doesn’t mean the points outlined are not valid.
The article talks about how physicians may be choosing to withhold medical advice or expertise because, what at one time was a medical discussion, has suddenly become a political discussion. The article also mentions that in some instances if physicians are employed by large organizations, those organizations might not even be willing to make a physician available for a discussion if there is any perception that the physician is questioned about something controversial….things like Tylenol causing autism.
Another frightening article tells us how science is in trouble because of vaccine deniers. And then tells physicians that we need to listen more sympathetically (insert eye roll here), rather than suggesting that the vaccine deniers consider evidence.
During COVID I recall dealing with angry patients who were outraged over their “fake” diagnosis of COVID. They just had the flu and they would yell at people who told them otherwise even as they got sicker and sicker. We also had threats made when we refused to treat patients with whatever the latest internet quackery was.
At the moment if a pregnant woman wants to feel badly when she doesn’t need to and forgo Tylenol, I suppose the harm might be limited. But as I have mentioned previously, vaccines have been responsible for extraordinary improvements in human health. And there may be more advancements on that front as companies look for preventative steps for things like Malaria, HIV and other diseases. But we now have people who want to forgo these interventions because of their personal opinions that are based on fake science, and people who know better but place money and personal fame above the lives of others. This includes the lives of children and other vulnerable populations.
I hope that physicians will continue to stand up and speak, even as it becomes harder. With persistence and conviction must speak up for what the science tells us. Though some patients may not agree with what we advise, we still need to give them our best understanding of what will help them, even when it was hard.