Pidonsmart, MD

I generally stay away from MedTwitter because of too much ego flying around. @drifeleah is one of those few HCPs I follow here and I do appreciate her enthusiasm for proper health communication. That is the only reason I decided to engage her vacillations about a straightforward question put to her as a medical doctor: whether it is right to say ‘pregnancy is a death sentence.’ I respectfully pointed to her that it betrays the principle of health risk communication to communicate to patients in such manner. This is why she went on to block me, lol. Contrary to what she is trying hard to portray, it is completely unethical for doctors to communicate health risk in such a manner. She very well knows she can’t defend that in any board exam or workplace based assessment. I did not speak about what patients can say about their own experience, but about how HCPs should help patients understand their risks. To insist HCPs should communicate health risk sensitively, in a way that doesn’t contribute to health anxiety, is not minimising, dismissing or invalidating patient’s experience. It is stewarding your words properly as a professional. I do hope that when you have had the moment to cool off and reflect, you can better evaluate whether you have been consistent with your own principles.