PETALING JAYA: A medical association and a former deputy health minister have raised concerns regarding a worrying trend of physicians and medical practitioners sharing patients’ information on social media.
The trend was believed to be even more apparent during the Covid-19 pandemic with doctors seen to be posting patient’s details including X-ray pictures and details of medical conditions.
Dr Vikkineshwaran Siva Subramaniam, chairman of Malaysian Medics International, said that while it was good to engage the general public in health and policy discussions or building networks through social media, there were risks, particularly where social and professional boundaries become unclear.
“Nowadays, doctors are heard loud and clear by all and sundry. Social media is brimming with doctors and medical students opening their hearts, sharing their frustrations, and venting their anger,” he said.
“We can read tweets from doctors who describe how they cried at work, struggled with lack of sleep, lost their temper with incompetent colleagues, and even made mistakes. Are aeroplane pilots equally open, I wonder?”
Vikkineshwaran said doctors had now become social media influencers.
“However, I do not condone doctors using social media to promote their work. Some may try justifying it as ‘educating the public’, but this is where the line goes grey,” he told FMT.
When it comes to sharing patient’s information, Vikkineshwaran said consent is exceptionally crucial in the doctor-patient relationship.
“Patients seek doctors at their most vulnerable time of need. They share their most personal life information and permit doctors to examine and perform procedures with the hope of relief from the ailment. It would be wrong of doctors to exploit patients, no matter what their intentions are, without proper informed and acknowledged consent,” he said.
Doctor runs into backlash on Twitter
A recent example of this trend can be seen where a doctor shared her patient’s medical information on Twitter. According to her tweets, it was a Covid-19 patient who also suffers from AIDS. The doctor also revealed that the patient comes from the LGBT community.
She received a backlash from netizens who were upset with the tone of her tweets which they found to be judgmental about the patient’s sexuality. She has since deleted the tweets and apologised.
Asked if the trend could prevent those coming from marginalised communities or who suffered from diseases that carry certain stigmas such as tuberculosis, sexually-transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS from seeking treatment due to the discriminatory attitude and stigma towards them, Vikkineshwaran said doctors must always be non-judgmental towards any kind of patients.
Meanwhile, former deputy health minister Dr Lee Boon Chye said while the public needed to be educated about health in general, ” references to any patient must be general and at all times the identity of the patient must be protected”.
He said there was a need to avoid any judgmental comment about patients’ condition or behaviour,
Vikkineshwaran said patients should be more active about advocating their needs and rights. “If a person feels uncomfortable with their doctor at any point, they must voice their concern. Only then can we keep a check and balance to ensure no wrong is done,” he said.