dr
Christian Lübbers stays
Five and a half years ago I tweeted about a case from my ENT practice, when my account was very small, maybe 200 followers: I was examining a four-year-old girl with a purulent middle ear infection.
The parents had poured their globules into the auditory canal – they have just as little effect in the auditory canal as they do under the tongue.
That was not only ineffective, but all the more painful for the girl: So these lumps were swimming in the purulent soup.
The parents had an immigrant background and had previously been to a non-medical practitioner – in other countries there are generally no medical laypersons who are granted medical expertise even without regular training.
Unfortunately, they only got a placebo there.
My tweet had a huge media echo.
So within 48 hours I slipped into public educational work.
Health education is not new to me, as I talk to countless patients every day.
Johanna Dürrholz
Editor in the “Germany and the World” department.
Follow I follow
Karen Truscheit
Editor in the “Germany and the World” department.
Follow I follow
The past two years have shown that rejecting science is a gateway drug to lateral thinking.
There is a large intersection between conspiracy beliefs, pseudomedicine, opponents of vaccination and right-wing extremists.
Anyone who, like me, enlightens in this area of tension is also regularly confronted with hatred.
Before the pandemic, doctors were not so much in the public eye.
But suddenly we were all waiting for Christian Drosten's statements, and Twitter became a medical information medium that provided first-hand assessments.
I think hate on the internet has increased significantly over the past two and a half years.
The rejection of pandemic measures in general has been unleashed on the enlightening doctors, many of us have been severely attacked.
Fortunately, hate is not always directed against the person, but also against the thing.
Nevertheless, I have to say: I now think very carefully about what I write on Twitter.
This is also a result of hate.
In particular, I consciously rejected TV appearances on the topic of hate on the internet - simply because I didn't want to be a crystallization figure.
One has almost gotten used to hate mail or post
I can already feel the hatred.
The police then carry out a so-called risk assessment, specifically the question of whether I need police protection.
I am very satisfied with the work of the police and I also feel that I am taken seriously.
The criminal police proactively approached me and said: "Your practice address has just been doxxed in a Telegram group, don't be surprised if you receive emails in the next few days." The email address is public anyway, but if the in appears in a lateral thinker chat, it is an invitation to write me negative Google reviews, for example.
My practice then suddenly has 20 one-star ratings on Google – even though their authors were never my patients.
You've almost gotten used to hate mail or post,