Thread by @AmyTanMD

I just got COVID for the first time. I got it at work caring for patients as a disabled MD in wards teeming with COVID-19 the past month despite wearing my self-sourced N95s and goggles all the time. The same month after the "resp virus season" declared over & masks optional./1

COVID is not a seasonal virus. I've worn n95s and goggles ALL THE TIME for 4.5 years. I only drink water at work OUTSIDE. As a disabled person, not only has it worsened my pre-existing issues I have to live with everyday, it completely knocked me off my feet and mobility aids/2

because it has hit me so hard, and it's affecting me daily as I return to work after finally testing negative.

With all the calls for the dire need for supporting and increasing the #HumanHealthCareResources @CMA_Docs,@DoctorsOfBC why are there not calls for safer workplaces /3

@CMA_Docs @DoctorsOfBC for healthcare workers? Why are we put in harm's way with no masking, no air ventilation monitoring/ optimization, no mitigation of any COVID risks in hospitals/healthcare facilities? It's already incomprehensible that we are not doing everything to mitigate risk for patients!/4

@CMA_Docs @DoctorsOfBC I'm a disabled physician who cares for elderly, seriously-ill and dying patients, who by definition are some of most clinically vulnerable patients. I do everything I can to not my patients' health by passing on something to them, which my consistent masking helps with./5

@CMA_Docs @DoctorsOfBC I mask to keep my  patients safe, while trying to keep myself safe. I cannot care for my patients by "staying at home" as I've been told.
Everyone who knows me, works with me IRL knows I'm extremely careful and is surprised that I got COVID. ONE-WAY masking is not enough/6

@CMA_Docs @DoctorsOfBC especially when you're walking into a place full of COVID and one of a handful of people masking, and the only person with an N95. This puts the inordinate, impossible burden on disabled people to attempt to protect themselves. My family did not get sick & serially tested neg /7

@CMA_Docs @DoctorsOfBC as I isolated right away from them. I haven't been on a plane since Jan 2020 despite previously travelling monthly for work before this (meetings & conferences made completely inaccessible for those with chronic illness/disability with return to in-person with zero mitigation/8

@CMA_Docs @DoctorsOfBC and no masks is a whole other thread). I haven't eaten in a single indoor venue since March 2020. I have attended a handful of work meetings where I've taken my meal outside to eat alone, if I'm not able to skip the meal-time all together. /9

@CMA_Docs @DoctorsOfBC There is no "going back to 2019" for me. I have had to ADAPT to a new reality, frankly made so much harder because my profession refuses to adapt.
My family who lives with me as a disabled MD has had to adapt to help keep me safe and functioning well enough so I can work./10

@CMA_Docs @DoctorsOfBC My health, my daily functioning, and my livelihood are at stake when I go into work EACH AND EVERY time because I'm a disabled human being, and thus a patient first. Doctor, second. /11

@CMA_Docs @DoctorsOfBC I would argue that this makes me a better doctor because I know how patients feel. I have not only empathy but lived experience of surviving an ICU stay, years of rehab, and now chronic illness and disability management, fighting for investigations & diagnoses, /12

@CMA_Docs @DoctorsOfBC fighting to be believed by my own colleagues in my profession, and to be treated, now with several off-label meds because I must to help my body function for me to be able to work. The profession needs MORE disabled doctors to be caring for patients, not less./13

@CMA_Docs @DoctorsOfBC Thus, the profession @CMA_Docs @DoctorsOfBC @CFPC_e
must protect disabled physicians (and all physicians in doing so) by leading the call for safe workplaces. I was just denied more disability insurance because of my 20+ years of disability after an MVA & related/subsequent/14

@CMA_Docs @DoctorsOfBC @CFPC_e chronic conditions. Now I got COVID at work & am holding my breath worried what the long-term impact will be on my already worsened baseline since the acute infection. Deliberately making my workplace a hazard w/ a mass-disabling virus allowed to run rampant is negligent/15

@CMA_Docs @DoctorsOfBC @CFPC_e for our profession. Think of the layers of increased risk that disabled MDs must carry: being denied financial supports if health conditions worsen by being denied disability insurance while already forcing disabled doctors to return to work before appropriately convalesced/16

@CMA_Docs @DoctorsOfBC @CFPC_e because we have no sick leave, but also a shortage of colleagues already on the schedule so there's no one who can step in and cover for more than a day or two at most. It's mindboggling and cruel. How does this help with the #HumanHealthResourceCrisis?/17

@CMA_Docs @DoctorsOfBC @CFPC_e How does this help with #PhysicianWellness when the profession doesn't recognize that disabled physicians exist within our profession, who are contributing empathetic care to our patients because of what we have to do to be able to function to care for patients?/18

@CMA_Docs @DoctorsOfBC @CFPC_e You say @CMA_Docs's focus is on preventing MD burnout & health equity for our profession.
Don't you think working in a hospital/facility that can give you a further disabling virus is a huge source of stress, burnout, & inequity via the ableism? /19

https://x.com/CMA_Docs/status/1795903136403452030?t=5LrTi_EEvIdW9W8xG5DeIw&s=19

@CMA_Docs @DoctorsOfBC @CFPC_e It's time to reckon with the fact that there's a tacit assumption that all MDs are abled, invincible and made to work like robots immune to what can occur to any human being.
Disabled physicians benefits patients and our profession./end
#ProtectDisabledPhysicians
#StopIgnoringUs

@CMA_Docs @DoctorsOfBC Sorry, this should read:
I'm a disabled MD who cares for elderly, seriously-ill, dying pts, who by def are some of most clinically vulnerable pts. I do everything I can to protect my patients' health & NOT passing on something to them, which my consistent masking helps with./5