Threats, harassment and trolls: Is being a “public” medical voice worth it?
10/28/21 • 31 min
Dr. Amy Tan shares how she endured months of online harassment during the pandemic for defending racialized communities.
“There was a racist, misogynistic, violent threat made to me by phone, which is different than keyboard warriors on Twitter, tweeting or emailing terrible things. It's different when somebody seeks out your workplace and asks to speak to you.” -- Dr. Amy Tan
Dr. Amy Tan is an academic family and hospice palliative care physician on Vancouver Island.
During the pandemic, many physicians, like Dr. Tan, have found themselves in the spotlight of both traditional and social media as spokespeople and policy or medical experts. Yet, they’ve also been on the receiving end of online threats, abuse and harassment.
Dr. Najma Ahmed knows what they’re going through. She is a trauma surgeon based in Toronto and co-founder of Canadian Doctors for Protection from Guns. In 2019, she faced intense harassment by pro-gun activists after launching a public campaign for tougher gun control laws. In this episode,
Dr. Ahmed talks to Dr. Caroline Gérin-Lajoie about the backlash outspoken advocates often face, how it can affect their mental health, whether “speaking out” is really worth it and what medical schools and health institutions can do to support physicians who advocate publicly for their patients.
On Nov. 10, join Dr. Gérin-Lajoie and other physicians to discuss this topic in a CMA Wellness Connection peer support session. Register by clicking here: https://community.cma.ca/en/wellness-connection/p/peer-support-events
Dr. Amy Tan shares how she endured months of online harassment during the pandemic for defending racialized communities.
“There was a racist, misogynistic, violent threat made to me by phone, which is different than keyboard warriors on Twitter, tweeting or emailing terrible things. It's different when somebody seeks out your workplace and asks to speak to you.” -- Dr. Amy Tan
Dr. Amy Tan is an academic family and hospice palliative care physician on Vancouver Island.
During the pandemic, many physicians, like Dr. Tan, have found themselves in the spotlight of both traditional and social media as spokespeople and policy or medical experts. Yet, they’ve also been on the receiving end of online threats, abuse and harassment.
Dr. Najma Ahmed knows what they’re going through. She is a trauma surgeon based in Toronto and co-founder of Canadian Doctors for Protection from Guns. In 2019, she faced intense harassment by pro-gun activists after launching a public campaign for tougher gun control laws. In this episode,
Dr. Ahmed talks to Dr. Caroline Gérin-Lajoie about the backlash outspoken advocates often face, how it can affect their mental health, whether “speaking out” is really worth it and what medical schools and health institutions can do to support physicians who advocate publicly for their patients.
On Nov. 10, join Dr. Gérin-Lajoie and other physicians to discuss this topic in a CMA Wellness Connection peer support session. Register by clicking here: https://community.cma.ca/en/wellness-connection/p/peer-support-events
Previous Episode
Racism in medicine and the impact on physician wellness
"We've often been stalled by the fact that medicine is painted as this altruistic, noble, honourable profession, forgetting that medicine is built on such heinous acts of racial violence that we don't often acknowledge." – Dr. Joseph Mpalirwa
Dr. Joseph Mpalirwa is a family physician at Toronto's Casey House and recently co-authored a study on Black physicians' experiences of racism and discrimination in Ontario.
In this episode, he joins Dr. Kenneth Fung, an award-winning psychiatrist and clinical director of the Asian Initiative in Mental Health at Toronto Western Hospital, in conversation with Dr. Caroline Gérin-Lajoie about how systemic racism affects both the mental well-being of physicians and the overall health of patients.
Speaking from both personal experience and as leaders in the field, Dr. Fung and Dr. Mpalirwa describe the “highly demoralizing” impact of racism and how it increases the risk of burnout among physicians.
Want to learn more about physician wellness? Visit the CMA Physician Wellness Hub for curated, clinically based tools, resources, and research on all the topics covered in this podcast.
Next Episode
The personal cost of leading Canada’s public health response to COVID-19
For most physicians, the fight against COVID-19 took place away from public scrutiny. But for public health physicians, their words, their work, and sometimes their raw emotions, have taken centre stage. Two of Canada’s chief medical officers of health – Dr. Saqib Shahab from Saskatchewan and Dr. Catherine Elliott from the Yukon – share the toll the pandemic has taken on them and their colleagues.
“It was only a few months in where I thought, no human can really keep this pace: new evidence coming in every day...the pace of meetings and press conferences, and evidence-based decisions, and the weight of these types of decisions.” – Dr. Catherine Elliott
In this episode, host Dr. Caroline Gérin-Lajoie speaks with Dr. Elliott about what causes moral distress among public health physicians and recent survey results from the Public Health Physicians of Canada showing high rates of burnout among its members.
On Dec. 8, join Dr. Gérin-Lajoie and other physicians to discuss this topic in a CMA Wellness Connection peer support session. Register by clicking here:
Want to learn more about physician wellness? Visit the CMA Physician Wellness Hub for curated, clinically-based tools, resources, and research on all the topics covered in this podcast.
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