Recently a junior person told me about a stupid, zero covid policy in her hospital that blocked visitors. She wanted to speak out against it, but ultimately felt it wasn’t worth it. “it is crazy we can’t even say obvious things.” What she meant was: in the current climate of lunacy, you cannot even point out flawed, illogical, pointless covid policies without being victim of a mob of fellow doctors. In fact, just yesterday, some such physicians were furious with dropping the cloth mask mandate (when not eating) rule on airplanes. Some tweeted that dropping the cloth mask requirement on airplanes would result in babies dying. This hyperbolic rhetoric lacks empirical support— there is no evidence a cloth mask mandate saves babies. But moreover, is illogical: by their own logic, eating pretzels on the flight meant babies die (as you lower your mask to eat them), and yet they were silent. No pretzel is worth the life of a child! Where was the outrage over that?
I think we need to recognize that some parts of the population may have become strongly polarized against Dr. Wen because of her earlier, extremely rigid comments, including her recommendations for extreme measures to be applied to people who chose/choose not to be vaccinated.
We were doomed from the start of this pandemic when everything became so tribal. But the callousness in which doctors and the medical profession have carried themselves is abhorrent and will hurt public trust for decades to come. Every time I see a tweet from an MD saying covid is essentially the end of the world I just eye roll.
I have followed Dr. Prasad for almost 2 years. Some of the trolling he has received from other doctors has been truly shocking and eye-opening. Yes, most adults have regressed to middle school behavior over the past few years but I was under the naive impression that doctors were like astronauts-they remain calm adults under pressure. Wow, have I lost my innocence there. Some of these doctor trolls practice in my city. I actually made a file on my phone with screenshots of their accounts so that if I or a loved one ever end up in the hospital where they practice we can stay 'socially distant' from them.
I don't know Dr Wen, but I have only the utmost respect for Dr. Gandhi. I give her name out all the time to patients looking for an intelligent discussion of Covid issues (along with VP). If a person has an issue with Dr Gandhi, they are either blinded by political coercion, or of such cowardice that they join the tribe rather than educate the tribe. I think, along with Univ Professors, professionals in the medical field are cowards protecting their own self interests rather than the patients. What was that oath that starts out, "First, do no harm...."?
One conclusion, of course, would be that the goal is not actually to do good, but rather to gain status in the community by proclaiming "I care more than you do, and that makes me better than you". Serious cost/benefit analysis is not required and is in fact an impediment to proclaiming that I care more than you do.
And you hope the "social media doctor" who indulges in such shallow cruelty is an outlier in the health profession.
I read dozens of doctors. Wen is a weathervane...if you dig out some of her early commentary on masks it is so wrong it is scary. Gandhi has also been consistently wrong on masks, and generally non-discriminating on her vaccine discussions...she just repeats the "safe and effective" narrative. But she occasionally writes things that are spot on, and I am glad for that. In both cases, they are mostly wedded to spouting the "official" line, whatever it may be. Gandhi someone less than Wen, but both solidly there. The embarrassing part is that both should have been able to read the literature on masking, lockdowns, etc. for themselves and reported that -- they just chose not to do so. That is bad medical reporting. Vinay, to his credit, has come around with every writing...just need him to come around that masks have no value and he will be solidly in the mostly correct category.
But in any case, ad hominem attacks are never worth doing. It is far easier just to write referenced rebuttals to where these follow-the-narrative doctors are wrong...and those are particularly easy to do for those two. There are many that are even worse, so using the relative measures test, they are better than many.
I love that you and Dr. Ghandi always speak honestly. These other doctors you reference really need to consider the impact they have on their patients. I am struggling to have confidence in doctors enforcing cloth masks...my very healthy 14 yo son having to do physical therapy (stationary bike riding) in a mask. My trust in most doctors has plummeted and luckily my family and I are healthy so rarely need to seem them (just recently when my son broke his foot). This pandemic has made me question everything I am told by doctors and I will always get a 2nd (maybe 3rd opinion) before I follow their advice. It is very sad that so many doctors have put politics before patient care.
"boosting until your troponins rise!" LMAO ... that's freaking hilarious. Saw it on VPZD, and thought it was funny there, but I'm clearly going to laugh everywhere I see this line.
That's not supposed to happen on the first Moderna dose, though! No sir! And if you complain about it, it must be because you are overweight and old. Don't mind the fact that your last chart was 117/70 BP and your blood test from that month was completely normal. Nope! Can't be the vax you had a couple weeks ago - it's surely your poor lifestyle choices that jumped your blood pressure 60 points in 2 weeks and gave you heart palpitations. (Or so I was told, repeatedly, by "people who knew better.")
It is horrendous that we can no longer discuss different ideas without everything turning into a personal attack. I recently commented on one of your videos and was dismissed/insulted by another person. I can't recall the exact topic of the video or comments, but I invited discussion of her difference of opinion and got more of the same in response.
Also, your comment about pretzels is hilarious! 😁 I have so appreciated your voice of reason through this whole thing. My husband and I had covid before we were eligible for vaccines, and ultimately decided not to get them. My case was very mild: cold and sinus infection. He ended up with a mild pneumonia and antibiotic, but bounced back quickly with no residual effects. Our teen boys had it at the same time and I didn't get them vaccinated either. (My brother got myocarditis from his shots.) Then there's our 19yo daughter. She got covid 3 months after her second shot and was still required a couple months later to get a booster for this semester. Nothing makes sense. And pointing any of these crazy contradictions out makes us a target. I'm shocked you haven't been banned from YouTube yet, to be honest.
I don't watch TV, but based on what I've seen of Leana Wen, I'm pretty surprised at Dr. Prasad's implication that she is an objective medical professional and is not swayed by political winds. Haven't her stated opinions and talking points always aligned pretty closely with the political ambitions of the political establishment (ignoring natural immunity, advocating coercion of disobedient citizens, overselling the robustness and effectiveness of the vaccines, downplaying or ignoring side effects, asserting the unquestionable utility of masking)? Didn't she only recently start questioning the effectiveness of masking (when it became politically wise to do so)? If so, I wonder what changed. It seems to be a consequence of public opinion converging to rationalism that her opinions are now reasonable.
As a PA, MPH practicing internal medicine I have experienced it 1st-hand. I dared to poll my colleagues around 10/2021 re prior infection observations after reading strong proclamations from CDC about natural immunity that contradicted common sense and my clinical observations. Few responded. One MD colleague wrote me a long lesson about why vaccines are good and shared an article from The Hill even though i never once mentioned anything about vaccines.
She read politics and thinks she is well informed. I read the actual garbage research the CDC based their conclusions on (recanted in MMWR (but ignored in guidance) a month later). Most of the others stayed silent.
Dr. Prasad it would be a blast to rip that research apart together. This was really the turning point for me, and I think would be for many others if they see this whole CDC saga surrounding natural immunity laid bare chronologically up to present time. It has been so indisputably political and negligent. I think this would be a fascinating video and don't recall seeing it done yet on your channel.
When you ask a patient whether they have a gun in the house... you have a problem. I have powertools, gasoline and household cleaners too doc, what of it?
Your tweet on the cans of soda was the best! You are right. Dont reference but make the argument. I will relay this advice to my teenage kids.( they dont use twitter...that I know of..but good advice to give in general)
I think we need to recognize that some parts of the population may have become strongly polarized against Dr. Wen because of her earlier, extremely rigid comments, including her recommendations for extreme measures to be applied to people who chose/choose not to be vaccinated.
We were doomed from the start of this pandemic when everything became so tribal. But the callousness in which doctors and the medical profession have carried themselves is abhorrent and will hurt public trust for decades to come. Every time I see a tweet from an MD saying covid is essentially the end of the world I just eye roll.
I have followed Dr. Prasad for almost 2 years. Some of the trolling he has received from other doctors has been truly shocking and eye-opening. Yes, most adults have regressed to middle school behavior over the past few years but I was under the naive impression that doctors were like astronauts-they remain calm adults under pressure. Wow, have I lost my innocence there. Some of these doctor trolls practice in my city. I actually made a file on my phone with screenshots of their accounts so that if I or a loved one ever end up in the hospital where they practice we can stay 'socially distant' from them.
I don't know Dr Wen, but I have only the utmost respect for Dr. Gandhi. I give her name out all the time to patients looking for an intelligent discussion of Covid issues (along with VP). If a person has an issue with Dr Gandhi, they are either blinded by political coercion, or of such cowardice that they join the tribe rather than educate the tribe. I think, along with Univ Professors, professionals in the medical field are cowards protecting their own self interests rather than the patients. What was that oath that starts out, "First, do no harm...."?
One conclusion, of course, would be that the goal is not actually to do good, but rather to gain status in the community by proclaiming "I care more than you do, and that makes me better than you". Serious cost/benefit analysis is not required and is in fact an impediment to proclaiming that I care more than you do.
And you hope the "social media doctor" who indulges in such shallow cruelty is an outlier in the health profession.
I read dozens of doctors. Wen is a weathervane...if you dig out some of her early commentary on masks it is so wrong it is scary. Gandhi has also been consistently wrong on masks, and generally non-discriminating on her vaccine discussions...she just repeats the "safe and effective" narrative. But she occasionally writes things that are spot on, and I am glad for that. In both cases, they are mostly wedded to spouting the "official" line, whatever it may be. Gandhi someone less than Wen, but both solidly there. The embarrassing part is that both should have been able to read the literature on masking, lockdowns, etc. for themselves and reported that -- they just chose not to do so. That is bad medical reporting. Vinay, to his credit, has come around with every writing...just need him to come around that masks have no value and he will be solidly in the mostly correct category.
But in any case, ad hominem attacks are never worth doing. It is far easier just to write referenced rebuttals to where these follow-the-narrative doctors are wrong...and those are particularly easy to do for those two. There are many that are even worse, so using the relative measures test, they are better than many.
I love that you and Dr. Ghandi always speak honestly. These other doctors you reference really need to consider the impact they have on their patients. I am struggling to have confidence in doctors enforcing cloth masks...my very healthy 14 yo son having to do physical therapy (stationary bike riding) in a mask. My trust in most doctors has plummeted and luckily my family and I are healthy so rarely need to seem them (just recently when my son broke his foot). This pandemic has made me question everything I am told by doctors and I will always get a 2nd (maybe 3rd opinion) before I follow their advice. It is very sad that so many doctors have put politics before patient care.
You are absolutely correct and medicine is doomed as long as politics rule and science takes a back seat as it has on more issues than just Covid.
"boosting until your troponins rise!" LMAO ... that's freaking hilarious. Saw it on VPZD, and thought it was funny there, but I'm clearly going to laugh everywhere I see this line.
That's not supposed to happen on the first Moderna dose, though! No sir! And if you complain about it, it must be because you are overweight and old. Don't mind the fact that your last chart was 117/70 BP and your blood test from that month was completely normal. Nope! Can't be the vax you had a couple weeks ago - it's surely your poor lifestyle choices that jumped your blood pressure 60 points in 2 weeks and gave you heart palpitations. (Or so I was told, repeatedly, by "people who knew better.")
It is horrendous that we can no longer discuss different ideas without everything turning into a personal attack. I recently commented on one of your videos and was dismissed/insulted by another person. I can't recall the exact topic of the video or comments, but I invited discussion of her difference of opinion and got more of the same in response.
Also, your comment about pretzels is hilarious! 😁 I have so appreciated your voice of reason through this whole thing. My husband and I had covid before we were eligible for vaccines, and ultimately decided not to get them. My case was very mild: cold and sinus infection. He ended up with a mild pneumonia and antibiotic, but bounced back quickly with no residual effects. Our teen boys had it at the same time and I didn't get them vaccinated either. (My brother got myocarditis from his shots.) Then there's our 19yo daughter. She got covid 3 months after her second shot and was still required a couple months later to get a booster for this semester. Nothing makes sense. And pointing any of these crazy contradictions out makes us a target. I'm shocked you haven't been banned from YouTube yet, to be honest.
The LA Times is holding a book festival this coming weekend, and indoor events have a mask requirement. SHM.
“No pretzel is worth the life of a child! Where was the outrage over that?” Pure gold. Awesome work as usual Dr. Prasad.
I don't watch TV, but based on what I've seen of Leana Wen, I'm pretty surprised at Dr. Prasad's implication that she is an objective medical professional and is not swayed by political winds. Haven't her stated opinions and talking points always aligned pretty closely with the political ambitions of the political establishment (ignoring natural immunity, advocating coercion of disobedient citizens, overselling the robustness and effectiveness of the vaccines, downplaying or ignoring side effects, asserting the unquestionable utility of masking)? Didn't she only recently start questioning the effectiveness of masking (when it became politically wise to do so)? If so, I wonder what changed. It seems to be a consequence of public opinion converging to rationalism that her opinions are now reasonable.
As a PA, MPH practicing internal medicine I have experienced it 1st-hand. I dared to poll my colleagues around 10/2021 re prior infection observations after reading strong proclamations from CDC about natural immunity that contradicted common sense and my clinical observations. Few responded. One MD colleague wrote me a long lesson about why vaccines are good and shared an article from The Hill even though i never once mentioned anything about vaccines.
She read politics and thinks she is well informed. I read the actual garbage research the CDC based their conclusions on (recanted in MMWR (but ignored in guidance) a month later). Most of the others stayed silent.
Dr. Prasad it would be a blast to rip that research apart together. This was really the turning point for me, and I think would be for many others if they see this whole CDC saga surrounding natural immunity laid bare chronologically up to present time. It has been so indisputably political and negligent. I think this would be a fascinating video and don't recall seeing it done yet on your channel.
When you ask a patient whether they have a gun in the house... you have a problem. I have powertools, gasoline and household cleaners too doc, what of it?
Your tweet on the cans of soda was the best! You are right. Dont reference but make the argument. I will relay this advice to my teenage kids.( they dont use twitter...that I know of..but good advice to give in general)