Originally published at: Hospitals are Firing Doctors Who Talk to the Press | Infostormer.com
Hospitals are literally firing doctors who talk to the press.
Hospitals are threatening to fire health-care workers who publicise their working conditions during the coronavirus pandemic – and have in some cases followed through.
Ming Lin, an emergency room physician in Washington state, said he was told Friday he was out of a job because he’d given an interview to a newspaper about a Facebook post detailing what he believed to be inadequate protective equipment and testing. In Chicago, a nurse was fired after emailing colleagues that she wanted to wear a more protective mask while on duty. In New York, the NYU Langone Health system has warned employees they could be terminated if they talk to the media without authorisation.
“Hospitals are muzzling nurses and other health-care workers in an attempt to preserve their image,” said Ruth Schubert, a spokesperson for the Washington State Nurses Association. “It is outrageous.”
Hospitals have traditionally had strict media guidelines to protect patient privacy, urging staff to talk with journalists only through official public relations offices. But the pandemic has ushered in a new era, Schubert said.
Health-care workers “must have the ability to tell the public what is really going on inside the facilities where they are caring for Covid-19 patients,” she said.
Clearly, medical personnel are being told that they will be fired if they talk to the media about what is going on in these hospitals.
This makes me wonder what these doctors would tell us about what’s really going on in these facilities if they were allowed to talk with the media. The issue regarding personal protective equipment is one thing, but maybe they’d tell us that this doomsday virus isn’t as bad as we are being told. Maybe the real reason they’re being gagged is because the entire public health situation is being grossly exaggerated.
Either way, the lack of transparency reinforces my belief that the government response we are witnessing is totally hysterical and insane.