Anonymous Physician Bloggers

Some people have questioned why I blog as a physician and why I blog anonymously. For those of you who haven’t kept up with the medical news, there have been a handful of lawsuits recently where physicians blogged about their patients anonymously. In one case, a physician was being sued for malpractice by a patient. When the blog was discovered by opposing counsel, the physician abruptly settled the case out of court. I suspect it had nothing to do with the actual case itself but that the physician’s counsel felt that the blog undermined the physician’s defense.

I blog anonymously because as a physician it is important not to violate the confidence of the physician and patient relationship. From a malpractice perspective, it is important that readers of my posts do not intepret any of my thoughts or advice as medical advice directed to them. If you have a question regarding medical issues, you must seek a physician in person for evaluation.

Blogging is an inherently open forum of thought and expression. Readers as well as the writer benefit from this exchange of thoughts. I feel that it is particularly important for physicians to blog because patients always have questions and wonder what is behind that veil of health care professionalism. We are people too. We are patients as well as physicians.

I do not feel that anonymity takes away from the value of a blog. In fact, I think it probably adds value because the reader feels that the writer is not holding anything back. I will continue to blog without holding back. If you have suggestions of topics you want to hear about, please drop me a comment.