Where Have You Gone, Doctor Blogger?

Fard Johnmar of HealthCare Vox recently gathered up a bunch of different posts about a decline in doctor-bloggers, some of whom have quit or cut back on their blogging because of real or perceived threats to their jobs. (Or, in the case of flea, because his now-defunct blog became an issue in a malpractice case.)

Blogs by medical professionals pose a special concern for them, their employers and their patients. Yet they're also a valuable source of insight into the professional lives of the people we turn to when we need health care.

I like the rules Fat Doctor (who almost quit blogging when a colleague identified her and showed printouts of her blog posts to her boss) sets for herself and lists at the top of her page. Among them:

As a medical blogger and a patient myself, I take HIPAA very, very seriously.  If one of my patients were to stumble upon this blog and recognize himself, I would want to curl up and die.  More than that, I would be hung out to dry by the attorneys who make HIPAA violations their livelihood.  Mostly, though, it would be wrong.  It is wrong to blog about a patient or his/her family.  Period.

Therefore, any patient story on this blog is a work of fiction inspired by multiple patient encounters.  Any resemblance to any person or family member, living or dead, is purely coincidental. ...

Never write anything about anyone that you wouldn’t say to his/her face.  If it would hurt your relationship in any way, don’t do it.

Sit on patient stories and any questionable posts as drafts for 24h before publishing them.

Don’t become so involved in the blog that I ignore the beauty of my non-cyber world, including my non-cyber friends and non-cyber family.

While health professionals may face new restrictions (some self-imposed) in their blogging, patients are increasingly discovering the value of blogging as a way to chronicle the progress of a condition or treatment, share their experiences with others who may be facing similar conditions, and spread information about little-known conditions. To pick just one example, check out Sick Girl Speaks, a blog by a woman with cystic fibrosis who's had two double-lung transplants, looks at the wider issues around patient experiences with serious illness:

I have seen in myself and others who live with serious illness the tendency to compare and judge the severity of another’s maladies. Strangely, it can be almost a sense of superiority that underlies the need to pronounce “My boo boo is bigger than your boo boo” and therefore write someone off as a “baby” or insensitive to the people with real problems. 

Conversely, I have seen many people be afraid to share their difficulties with someone like me because “they have no right to complain when they see what other people are dealing with”. The question I pose: Isn’t there enough compassion to go around?

Do you know of a great blog by a health professional, or by a patient? Add a comment and let us know!