3-1 Discussion Medical Science Post 4

Iconsidermyselfafairlystrongbelieverinbothscienceandmedicine.Ihavegreatrespectfor

thepeoplewhodedicatetheirlivestomakingushealthierandallowingforustolivelonger.

However,Ithinkthatitishighlyimportanttovetthosewearelisteningto,especiallyif

somethingdoesn’tsoundquiteright,butalsobecauseitistherightthingtodo.Aparticularly

largeissueinhealthcareatthemomentisthemisinformationpresentedbyindividualswith

positionalauthority,speakingoutofturnorinaself-servingfashion.

ConsidersomeonelikeAndrewWakefield,who,in1998publishedacaseserieswith12

othercolleaguessuggestingthatthemeasles,mumps,andrubella(MMR)vaccinehadthe

potentialtopredisposethechildrecipientstoautism(Rao&Andrade,2011).Thoughthe

TikTokhasbeenfraughtwith“doctors”who,uponfurtherdigging,arenurses,or“nurses”who,

uponfurtherdigging,actuallyworkindietarymedicine,spreadingmisinformationtothemasses.

AstudybyGermaniandBiller-Andorno(2021)hasindicatedthatindividualswhoidentifyas

“anti-vax”tweetlessbutengageindeeperdiscussionsthantheircounterpartsandhavea

strongerabilitytopullinsocialmediacelebritiesintotheconversations.Thesebehaviorsare

concerning,particularlyduringtheseintensetimesweareexperiencingallovertheworlds,but

alsobecausetheywilllikelybetrustedbythoseindoubtorlookingforconfirmationbias.

Wealsohavemedicalprofessionalsspeakingoutofturn.Afamilyfriendwasonthefence

aboutreceivingthenewestvaccinebecausehehashadheartissuesinthepast;heultimately

obtainedtheJohnson&JohnsonvaccinetovisithisdaughterlivinginEngland.However,whenit

Therearewell-knownarticlesreportingmedicalprofessionalslosingorsurrenderingtheir

licensesduetosimilarpreaching.ThomasCowansurrenderedhismedicallicensetothemedical

boardinCalifornia,whowasknownforspreadingmisinformationconnectingtheCOVID-19

pandemicto5Gcellularinternet(Ostrov,2021).StevenArthurLaTulippehadhislicenseto

practicemedicinerevokedbytheOregonMedicalBoardin2021afterclaimingthatpatients

couldexperiencecarbondioxidepoisoningwhilewearingfacemasks(Ellis,2021).Thesearejusta

fewcasesofinfluentialhealthcareprovidersbeingabletousetheirpositionalauthorityto

influencetheunsuspectingpublicwithmisinformation,whichcanbeoneofmanypotential

implicationsofhavingtoomuchfaithinmedicalscience.

References

Ostrov,B.F.(2021,February5).Conspiracy theory doctor surrenders medical license.CalMatters.

https://calmatters.org/health/2021/02/conspiracy-theory-doctor-surrenders-medical-license/

Rao,T.S.S.,&Andrade,C.(2011).TheMMRvaccineandautism:Sensation,refutation,

retraction,andfraud.Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 53(2),95-96.https://doi.org/10.4103/0019-

5545.82529