This Is A Pretty Cautionary Tale About The Misuse Of Social Media By Healthcare Professionals!

This appeared last week:

'Stop and think': MDO says doctors need to be careful on social media

MIGA's chief lawyer Timothy Bowen says three doctors have been suspended for their online comments in just over 12 months.

31st March 2021

By Siobhan Calafiore

A medical defence organisation has urged members to “stop and think” before posting on social media, after three doctors were suspended over inappropriate online comments in the space of a year.

In each of the cases, the doctors were sanctioned over comments that were found to have undermined the medical profession.  

All three remain suspended under emergency powers held by the Medical Board of Australia or following orders from a tribunal.

MIGA’s advocacy and legal manager Tim Bowen stressed each case involved comments seen as “really virulent” by regulators.

“It’s when you start engaging with really virulent views on social media that it becomes a problem for the medical board,” he told Australian Doctor. 

“It’s that forceful comment that is inflammatory and gets personal, that’s where it gets easier for regulators and tribunals to say this is out of line.” 

The lawyer pointed to the case of Dr Christopher Kwan Chen Lee, an emergency registrar in Tasmania who posted a series of comments declaring ‘some women deserve to be raped’ in an online forum.

Dr Lee was served with a six-week ban by the Tasmanian Health Practitioners Tribunal back in 2019, but was then suspended indefinitely following complaints in the media.

At the time, the board said it had taken the action “in the public interest to maintain confidence in the medical profession”, Mr Bowen said.

Tribunals had not treated any rights to freedom of speech as “particularly relevant”, when it came to the medical cases, he added.

“Once you identify yourself with a profession it can impose reasonable restrictions on you to represent what the profession values,” he said. 

More here:

https://www.ausdoc.com.au/news/stop-and-think-mdo-says-doctors-need-be-careful-social-media

While, on the face of it, this use of Social Media was pretty ‘over the top’ it does show there are real limits and that there can be life altering consequences for really ‘pushing it’!

Bottom line is that if you want to remain a professional behave as one!

David.