The Ethical Implications of Sharing Personal & Professional Experiences on Social Media

In this Pharmaceutical Executive video interview, Dr. Lawrence B. Werlin, MD, FACOG of HRC Fertility (@md.lawrence.werlin on TikTok), discusses the challenges of addressing fertility misinformation on social media. He emphasizes the importance of providing accurate and reliable information and encourages patients to consult with healthcare professionals. He also discusses the ethical considerations of using social media to share personal and professional experiences in the field of fertility.

What are the ethical considerations of using social media to share personal and professional experiences, especially in a field as sensitive as fertility?

The important factors that you have to take into account is that when I, for example, utilize social media, I tell the patients or the people who are listening right up front that these are my opinions. These are my thoughts. This is how I would manage a specific case. And again, medicine is an art, and there are multiple ways to do things, and it's important to take into account that there are many ways that you can address a certain situation, and each doctor may be different, and you have to take that into account. So that's really the first thing I think that's important. I tell the patients that when I do this, I think the other thing that's critical is that just because I say that doesn't mean that patients will believe that. They may think that, ‘well, this is the only way to do it, and I need to do it that way.’ And that's not always the case. The reality is that there are different ways of approaching problems, and really what your physician outlines for you, hopefully, is the best approach that you can do. But your options, of course, are that if you don't feel it's the best, you can always seek another opinion, and many times, social media offers that second opinion type situation.

With respect to anonymity, I think that it is important for people to observe their own anonymity, because otherwise it sets up problems that could occur for them. It's not an unusual thing for a patient to say, ‘I am a 32-year-old woman. I've been trying to get pregnant for X amount of years. I've been unsuccessful. I've done a number of procedures.’ That's fine, but I certainly would encourage them to not necessarily use their name, necessarily use the facility that they're working with. I would keep it as broad as possible, so as not to incur any problems with respect to anonymity. And with HIPAA rule, HIPAA violations, is very important to keep patient confidentiality at the peak.