There are always people who will argue against science and public health. Medical treatments for addiction, vaccines, speed limits, seatbelts, smoking bans, condom use ... all of these had and have die-hard opponents with their individual rationales for opposition.
I guess I’m saying this for those of you who feel frustrated and hopeless against the loud voices of those who oppose public health measures. There is always an uphill battle to diffusion of health innovation. Most times, the actions that save lives advance over time.
I definitely feel that frustration... I'm shopping for punching bags for my home (seriously). Stay in the part of the ecosystem you believe in, be steady, and focus on being a helper.
These are the pathways people use to dissuade
- but it doesn't help in 100% of cases
- but there's a rationale it might hurt instead of help
- but it encroaches on my freedoms
- but the data aren't perfect
- but my morals are offended
They're not novel; they're standard.
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Doctors Have Been Working Hard In This Pandemic And Do Not Appreciate Being Slandered: A Thread
First, @ACEPNow, which represents my specialty of emergency medicine:
“ACEP is appalled by President Trump's reckless and false assertions that physicians are overcounting deaths related to COVID-19. Emergency physicians and other health care workers have risked their lives...
“...day in and day out... battling the greatest public health crisis in a generation—all while watching countless patients die alone, going to work without sufficient protection equipment, and struggling with crushing anxiety about getting sick or spreading the virus...”
Probably on anticoagulants too. Sometimes old fragile papery skin does that when the veins are elusive. But the lip argues anticoagulants.
Also clinically possible that he touched the cursed horcrux as others are suggesting on this thread. Just spitballing here so may as well keep the differential broad.
Scientists are trained to look for evidence of their own biases, and to consider the possibility that their hypotheses are wrong. In fact, hypotheses are framed in terms of the "null" - the baseline assumption that the thing you think is true is not.
In every grant, you have to:
- lay out your safeguards against bias, point by point
- discuss what happens if your initial hypothesis is wrong
- guard against linked Aims that rely on assumptions that your hypothesis is right
You basically can't get funded unless you show rigor and an ability to roll with unexpected findings.
Medicine fails to acknowledge the depth of these losses from academia ... we lose talent, the leadership stays what it is, we reinforce the status quo. What is best for our patients? What is best for the science? statnews.com/2020/10/21/map…
Here's the direct link to the brave open letter from @AnuAnandaraja
After yesterday's Zoom session with @thenephrologist@kdc_md@DrAyanaJordan and @DrOniBee I am in mourning for what is lost when Black women and other WOC cannot stay and thrive in academic medicine. And I see all of you who stay but at cost to your own health and well-being.
I took care of a patient who lived in a small apartment with a large family. They pasted together garbage bags to make tunnels through the hallways to try to isolate COVID+ family members. When we all do our best to keep rates low, we help those vulnerable to exposure.
If I get COVID, I have the luxury of isolating in an extra room or the basement. I have few comorbidities and access to healthcare. I have the financial reserve to take time off.
People with these privileges need to have enough imagination to see those who don’t have them, and enough compassion to act on their behalf.
Deb was one of my first Twitter friends from 2013, a strong, clear, true and moral voice. If you go thru her tweets you’ll see how she always stood up for justice. I’ll miss her. The world lost some much needed goodness today.
She was warm and beautiful and brave and funny. I always laughed at her handle: “roseperson.” People who enjoy play on words like that are my kindred souls.
Her pinned tweet remains one of her best, but it is not unique or a fluke. She said this in so many ways over the years