By Kevin, M.D.
Several weeks ago, Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann said the HPV vaccine was dangerous.
It isn’t, but the resulting media uproar has consequences.
According to the New York Times,
Historically vaccine scares have caused vaccination rates to
drop for three or four years, and have led to outbreaks of diseases
that had previously been under control, like measles and whooping cough.
Measles cases in the United States reached a 15-year high last spring,
with more than 100 cases, most in people who had never been vaccinated.
What celebrities and politicians say matters. Physicians
have a relatively soft media platform, and cannot compete with prominent
public figures. That’s why I argue that the health profession needs to recruit celebrities to the cause of reputable, evidence-based medicine.
***
"Is there a doctor on board?"
Those words are not what most physicians want to hear on board an airplane.
But in this guest post by physician Rajka Milanovic Galbraith, she argues that it is their duty:
This is what I found on a [US legal website]: “A person is
not obligated by law to do first aid in most states, not unless it’s
part of a job description. However, some states will consider it an act
of negligence though, if a person doesn’t at least call for help.”
Isn’t coming to the aid of an ailing passenger part of our
job description? Or because we are not on duty, is it really not part
of our job?
There will be some who would be hesitant coming to someone’s aid on an
airplane. But, perhaps, physicians should be reminded of why they
became doctors in the first place — and that is to help others in need
of medical attention.