Medical Blogging Ethics
posted in - Ethics, - Palmdoc |The number of Malaysian medical bloggers – doctors and students – is now burgeoning. Just take a look at our Doctor and Student Blogrolls (I and II).
We have noted controversial (ethically speaking) blogging in the past. I think students and doctors alike should be careful on what they blog as we are bound by ethical principles. It is therefore timely that Medical blogs get ethics treatment
Neonataldoc, featured in a March 20 Free Press report in which observers posed questions about blogging and patient confidentiality, temporarily shut down his blog after the report ran, saying things had become “too weird.”
The story set off a debate in the medical blogging community concerning patient privacy and whether such tell-all blogs should be policed.
Bloggers who have stopped say they have done so at the request of employers who fear litigation or because they were worried about getting in trouble. Others have shut down under more serious circumstances.
As more people discover medical blogs (if you blog in public, expect that the public read your blogs! If you want to keep your blog private then use some means to protect it from public eyes e.g. password protected pages or even Private blog options provided by certain blogs) you may be at risk if your blogging touches on employer, patient or even some political issues. In Malaysia, I think the situation is even more tenuous given the somewhat ambivalent attitude the Government has towards bloggers.
The ground rules are now being written by a group of concerned doctors and they have put up a website Healthcare Blogger Code of Ethics
This is their most recent draft:
1. Principle 1: Clear representation of perspective – readers must understand the training and overall perspective of the author of a blog. Certainly bloggers can have opinions on subjects outside of their training, and these opinions may be true, but readers must have a place to look on a blog to get an idea of where this author is coming from. This also encompasses the idea of the distinction between advertisement and content.
2. Principle 2: Confidentiality – Medical bloggers must respect the nature of the relationship between patient and medical professionals and the clear need for confidentiality. All discussions of patients must be done in a way in which patients’ identity cannot be inferred.
3. Commercial Disclosure – the presence or absence of commercial ties of the author must be made clear for the readers. If the author is using their blog to pitch a product, it must be clear that they are doing that. Any ties to device manufacturer and/or pharmaceutical company ties must be clearly stated.
4. Reliability of Information – citing sources when appropriate and changing inaccuracies when they are pointed out
5. Courtesy – Bloggers should not engage in personal attacks, nor should they allow their commenters do so. Debate and discussion of ideas is one of the major purposes of blogging. While the ideas people hold should be criticized and even confronted, the overall purpose is a discussion of ideas, not those who hold ideas.
The ethical principals which they list appear generally sound and I think this site is worth keeping an eye on as they develop their guidelines further. I have an issue with #1 – I think many of us don’t want to disclose too much about ourselves lest it is deemed as “advertising” ourselves. So in the Malaysian context, I think some measure of anonymity is warranted.
I have a suggestion for you. The MMR does subscribe to the HON Code of Conduct, and if you host your own medical website or are a doctor blogger perhaps you should also seek HON compliance. We also have a Usage and Disclaimer page which clearly lists our objectives and the do’s and dont’s for this site. Having an “About” or “Disclaimer” page would be useful for your readers.
Related MMR links:
Do’s and Dont’s in Medical Student Blogging (MMR Student Forums)
We are Professional or aren’t we?
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June 13th, 2007 at 4:02 pm
Agree with the ethical rules. I am new to blogging (started last week), and despite working in an environment with very strong confidentiality rules and regulations, I still find myself watching what I write.
Anonymity is important. There was an article in the news recently where many employers confessed that they are searching for information on candidates based on web searches including blogs and myfacebook. They said many good candidates did not get the job because of what was written in their blogs about their opinions and private life….
June 14th, 2007 at 6:20 am
I think patient confidentiality is the most important one. One could be critical about public figures, hospitals, etc. but criticism should be fair and backed by facts. I think pure personal attacks are not warranted and we have moderated such comments here in the past.