Being a doctor is not just a profession, it’s almost the entire doctor’s life. Recently, doctors are under fire when non-doctors shame them on social media because of pictures of them sleeping while on duty, holding a celphone while on duty and the likes.
When I dissected this issue, I uncovered 4 Rotten Truths that everyone has to know and one possible solution to stop this . Are you ready for these?
4 Rotten Truths Beneath #DoctorShaming in the Philippines
(and One Possible Solution to STOP this)
1. There is a shortage of doctors in the Philippines
In this article, it talks about the ratio of Doctor:Patient today in our country. The present doctor-population ratio of 1:33,000.
The Philippine Medical Association said there are 130,000 licensed physicians in the country, but only 70,000 are active in the profession. A good number have actually turned to nursing and work as nurses overseas.
Imagine that, 70,000 doctors treating more than a 100 Million Filipinos. From here, you can see that Philippines needs more doctors.
I myself had a share of being the only doctor in the whole municipality, when I worked before as a doctor-to-the-barrio somewhere in a far flung island of the country. I get to be the Internist, Pedia, Oncologist, Ortho, the OB who did a Caesarian section in a barrio setting, a CSI when a child got killed and raped, a politician’s slave when I was directed to do medical mission on my own treating 400 patients in 4 hours (I almost walked out, but I remember my patients), an Ophthalmologist treating the people’s eye problem, a Surgeon, performing minor surgeries and wearing many other doctor’s hats. Why I did all those things? Because I am the only one there.
I saw from the ground, the problem, I felt the shortage, first hand.
2. It is hard to become a Doctor
Besides being an expensive course, one of the reasons why becoming a doctor is hard and few people would be willing to take this cup is this –
See this timeline:
For example, in order to become a Cardiologist, these are the things you need to go through.
Other specialties have their own timelines because some takes residency for 5 years (Surgery), for 4 years (OB), rather than 3 years for internal medicine. The bottom line here, not many people wants a life like that. Even worse, some people I know quits in the middle of that timeline. When we see our friends are already walking down the aisle, having children and earning money, we are still in the mercy of our parents or relatives or scholarships to get us through.
Yes, it’s the life we choose but a little understanding from others will be something we will very much appreciate.
3. Doctors are overworked, performing 36 hours duty or even more
Do you know that in other countries, they lifted these kinds of duties? 24 and 36 hours duties are already banned and considered illegal.
But in the Philippines, a BIG NO. This long duty hours continues up to today. If you read #1 and #2 then you know why? There is shortage of people wanting to become a doctor, hence, fewer doctors to a population that is getting bigger every second.
“Our country can’t afford it, our country can’t afford to make doctors work any less.”
I remember this actual experiences I had before:
We are already on our 36th hour duty in our OB rotation, when our resident said, we still need to wait until the last mommy from our duty give birth, I almost cried or I really did cried, I can’t remember. All I can remember was , we went home that day around 8PM (38th hour) very exhausted and trembling with hunger. But, I did not remember eating, I woke up 6am still wearing my dirty white clothes to start another duty on 8AM.
Note: If a legislator or any person who has the power to change the laws/rules reading this blog post, please do something about our duty hours. It is non-physiologic and in-humane to make doctors work for 24 to 36 hours duty or more.
4. The Doctors and the Public do not know the laws and what they can actually do
What can People do if they are really a victim of Malpractice:
File a formal case against the doctor. Here is a graph of cases being filed to PRC against doctors, I took this in the recent PMA convention presented by PRC board of medicine.
Among these cases, 60% is filled because of negligence, 36% because doctors are unprofessional and 4% of cases is immorality.
As you can see there are actual cases being filed and being investigated by serious and mature people. If you are a victim of malpractice. Then file a case. Don’t rat it out in social media because that can back fire to you, because doctors can sue you for cyber bullying.
What can doctors do if you become a victim of cyber Doctor Shaming in social media?
- You can protect yourself from cyber bullying and doctor shaming, because it is punishable by Philippine law under libel.
- Philippine laws punish libel and Art. 355 defines Libel. A libel committed by means of writing, printing, lithography, engraving, radio, phonograph, painting, theatrical exhibition, cinematographic exhibition, or any similar means, shall be punished. Revised Penal Code of the Philippines (Act No. 3815) includes Cybercrime Offenses.
- In the Philippines, libel is still a criminal offense. It is defamation in its very essence, but covers published work on print, television and other traditional media. The same is now true for new media like the internet and social media.
- This online/internet libel law, however, punishes only the original author of the post. Those who “liked,” “shared,” “retweeted” or re-blogged a post will not be criminally liable, unless (and I am presuming here) the person added a comment that may deemed to be libellous by a complainant.
Bottom line here is:
- Our country can’t afford to make doctors work any less because of the shortage. The least that people can do for them is, appreciate them and see what they can all do to solve this shortage:
- Legislators can legislate laws on this (other countries has)
- Create more scholarships making studying medicine more affordable
- For our youth A.K.A. the Millennials, you might consider taking this course
- For the public, encourage the young ones to be doctors and help them actually finish it
- If you are a victim of medical malpractice, then file a formal complaint. Make your doctor suffer the consequences of his/her actions. Don’t rat it out in social media. It’s immature, irresponsible and stupid. Shaming doctors on social media can backfire to you. It’s a crime, you know.
One possible solution I see is:
- For doctors who became or will become a victim of Doctor shaming in Social Media, let them taste your wrath. File them a case in a formal court. Let them suffer the consequences of their stupid actions. I think, if one doctor can stand up and file at least 1 case on Doctor shaming/Cyber bullying on social media, this will teach the public their lessons. Stand up for your right.
- Screenshot all the posts, get all the evidences. Don’t just fight back in Social Media too. Be smart, see the NBI first before they delete their posts. But, should they delete them, the NBI now can uncover posts even if they are already deleted by the original owner of the post.
#NotoDoctorShaming #DoctorsFightBack
Read More:
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- Who wants to be a Filipino Doctor? FAQs on How to Apply and Be Accepted in a Medical School
- 6 Secrets of Becoming the RICH DOCTOR Your Friends and Family Think You are
- 8 Facts Doctors Need To Know About the TRAIN and How It Will Impact Your Income Tax
- Doctor’s Biggest Mistakes in Choosing a Financial Advisor
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May discrepncies lang doc. High school is 4 years lang. Surgery residency is 5years, OB is 4 years unless isinama mo na un diplomate exam review. Tsaka regarding with filing a case, siguro for grave malpractices with grave consequences, reasonable pa. Para kasing ni-promote mo na idemanda agad ang Doctors to make them suffer after all those sacrifices na na-mentioned mong pinagdaanan nila before number 4 topic and to think na napakarami sa mga patients and relatives na nagiging iba na kwento,pinalalala and bini-blame sa doctors even yung kapabayaan nila na dadalhin nila sa ER ang sick relatives nila pag malala na or terminal cases, the so called neglected patient responsibilities. Hindi lahat ng complaints are reasonable, lalo na naka-abang ang mga lawyers ngaun na kaya paikutin ang lahat makakuha lang ng claims ang patient/relatives and para kumita din sila (well no offense if that is the nature of ur profession, kc hindi naman lahat ng lawyers ay nasa tama). File a case kaagad? Para matangalan ng license to practice, lalo mo lang palalalain un number 1 problem- shortage of doctors in the Phils (depende siguro yan sa kaso, as I have said, not all complaits are reasonable and true). May mga processo and source person na pwede munang lapitan and sabihan ng complaints such as hospital admins, hospital / Medical Directors na pwede mag-conduct ng investigations, to make the culprit liable and pay for what he/she has done according to the severity of the case. Doctors are humans too, may family na sinusuportahan, bills na binabayaran and sa isang iglap maaaring masira ang buhay after all those sacrifices for the common people just because of unreasonable complaints na kadalasan may dagdag na para lalo pang idiin sa kaso.
Thanks for the correction. But 6 years na high school now. Actually, the reason why they need to file a formal complaint, because they need to prove to the court na talagang malpractice, if it is really the case. The court will decide base on testimonies and evidences and not just hearsays. That will also trigger an investigation. Don’t worry, if proven innocent, and no malpractice happened, the case will be dismissed. And the doctor can now counter file a case. I’ve interviewed a lawyer/doctor with that. Don’t worry, justice system is still alive. Medyo mabagal lang.
Matatawag po bang cyberbullying pag nagcomment sa isang post ang ganito””” ganyan naman sila,saka nalang ipapatransfer pag malala na o dina kaya”””.kasi po ganyan comment ko at isa sa mga staff sa ospital pinost yan,then magpapatawag daw sila ng abogado.please do help me,ganyan lang po sinabi ko wala ng iba.
Hi, sorry for late reply. I can’t comment on this. I need to. Know the whole story first.