Healthcare Blogger Code of Ethics

If you did not notice, the Healthcare Blogger Code of Ethics got a very big boost from a mention on Grand Rounds. Here is the reference in the Medscape article about grand rounds:

Dr. Genes: You were among the first to propose an ethical code for medical bloggers. Do you think it’s catching on? How was your proposal different from the HONcode? Do you think some of the recent troubles with anonymous doctor-bloggers could have been prevented by following your code?

Dr. Lei: HONcode is great and I have always applied it for my blogs, but it really doesn’t require that bloggers reveal very much about themselves. When I started the “honor roll,” I wasn’t intending to make it anything other than a full-disclosure meme. I thought that if I could get some people to stop and think about what they were doing, as well as making their motivations and qualifications public, it might up the credibility of healthcare blogging.

I was inspired to start the full-disclosure meme when I came across blog after blog (healthcare and other) that didn’t fact-check and were, in fact, spreading misinformation. In addition to that, I don’t like bloggers who are hiding behind total anonymity. Why should I take the opinion of someone seriously if they’re using a pseudonym and won’t tell me anything about how they’ve gained their knowledge? Certainly it’s within people’s rights to remain anonymous, but at the very least, bloggers should show convincing evidence that their readers can trust the veracity of what they’re writing.

There’s a difference between people blogging about the news and commenting on it versus sharing their personal experiences. Physician bloggers, like Barbados Butterfly and Dr. Flea, should feel free to tell their personal stories as long as other people’s (patients’) rights to privacy haven’t been violated. The new Healthcare Blogger Code of Ethics takes another stab at legitimizing healthcare blogging. It’s an honorable goal and one to which I subscribe, but in the end, bloggers will still write what they want and must be responsible for it within the guidelines of their own situations. And that’s what blogging should be anyway: free expression with a pinch of thoughtful self-moderation.

******

Well Done. I could not have said it better!

*******

Editors Apology:  I am very sorry for misspelling Ms. Lei’s name and grateful for her to not even point it out!