In recent years, some physician authors have wrestled with why doctors might want to think twice before “friending” their patients on Facebook. The usual reasons are to protect the physician’s professional image — that the public might see their weirder, or not-so-polished-as-while-working side and, also, to maintain a certain “distance” — lest doctors become so concerned about their patients’ well-being that they can’t render objective opinions or advice.
Others suggest it’s a good idea for doctors to be socially out there, so to speak. Besides, through most of history, or at least the civilized part in which there have been designated healers, many individuals knew their doctors, who often resided in the same village or region as their patients. People trusted their physicians or didn’t, based on what they knew about their reputations as practitioners and as local denizens.
In the October issue of Harper’s Magazine, T.C. Boyle provides a disturbing portrait