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Brandt's Rants

2021; Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; Volume: 43; Issue: 7 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1097/01.eem.0000758804.42082.3c

1552-3624

Robert Brandt,

Misinformation and Its Impacts

Figure: pseudoscience, misinformation, COVID-19FigureA few years ago, like 20,000 or so, humankind depended on being the strongest and fastest to survive. Our ancestors formed societies through adaptation and cooperation, and they developed rules of self-governing to benefit the group as a whole. Intelligence became a highly sought-after virtue, often rewarding individuals with even higher intelligence. Obviously, we have given up on that load of tripe. I base this statement on an article I recently read titled, “Anti-Maskers Ready to Start Masking—to Protect Themselves from the Vaccinated.” (Vice. May 11, 2021; https://bit.ly/2S9PfQB.) Yes, that is real. Please take into account that I am writing this article in May, and you are reading it in July. Perhaps now, after two months, we have achieved a pandemic-free society, and you are looking back at our former selves with the knowledge that only the future has over the past. Maybe now everything is perfect, COVID is gone, and pseudoscience has been eradicated. I like dreaming too. The anti-masking society has now, only now, decided to start wearing masks. Their thoughts on this stem from their belief that vaccinated individuals shoot out particles that can alter DNA and that wearing a mask will protect them from these particles. But, I mean, they are wearing masks, so that's good, right? Task failed successfully? Again, I am not making this up. Let me back up a little. I come down hard on the anti-masking and anti-vaxxing crowd, but I do so to the medical professionals who read this magazine. In person, we should never be condescending or judgmental or belligerent or call them stinky dumdumdoodooheads. We should, however, have open and frank conversations to enlighten patients and help them make logical decisions. We are the experts. We have trained for years to understand a small slice of information better than 99 percent of the population. An expert's opinion should matter more when dealing with specific subjects. Deep, Dark Questions Granted, we should be open and answer questions. And we should ask questions ourselves. I enjoy pondering deep, dark questions while showering. Questions like, why does every patient seem to know what a butterfly needle is, yet so few have an idea what blood pressure meds they take? I ponder about how the word positive is always good, except when heard in the emergency department. Me: “Ma'am, I know you have been feeling negative, but I have positive news; you're negative.” Patient: “It's negative? You're positive?” Me: “I'm positive it's negative.” Patient: “My negativity has turned to positivity because you're positive it's negative.” Bags of Gas Humankind currently reigns supreme at the tippity top of the evolutionary food chain, and we can finally relax knowing that our intelligence will keep us firmly planted there for the foreseeable future. Then I watched a video of a lady filling up several bags (yes, bags) of gasoline and put them in her trunk. I thought that was bad. Then I watched another video of a man doing the same with boxes. “One box of gas to go. Gotta prepare for the shortage ... with this box.” A friend of mine recently vented about a patient. The patient wanted to leave against medical advice. Yes, it was a COVID patient. The patient refused vaccination. All of the patient's family refused vaccination. My friend tried to explain calmly and help the patient and family toward a logical and safe decision. In response, they threatened to sue the hospital and staff unless they were prescribed several medications that they had read online were “proven” to treat COVID and get rid of it. I will save you more of the dramatic interaction, and just say this: They left unhappy, without the medications. Time will tell if they follow through with charges against the hospital. I often rant against pseudoscience. Unfortunately, COVID is still a new disease, and there remain mountains of information we do not know. All we can do is try to make the best decisions we can with the information we have at the time. Until we have all the answers, I will try not to shoot my vaccine particles at anyone. Share this article on Twitter and Facebook. Access the links in EMN by reading this on our website, www.EM-News.com. Comments? Write to us at [email protected]. Dr. Brandtis an emergency physician with the Grand River Emergency Medical Group in Grand Rapids, MI. He was the winner of the 2008 Writer's Digest Short Short Story Writing Competition (http://bit.ly/1kIBaOf). Read his blog and other articles athttp://brandtwriting.com, follow him on Twitter@brandtwriting, and listen to his humorous ED podcast, “EpineFriends,” which can be found athttp://apple.co/3d9Nco2. Read his past EMN columns athttp://bit.ly/EMN-BrandtsRants.