From: [log in to unmask] (Steve Meech)
Hi Paul
17-Dec-96, Paul Galloway wrote to steve meech Subject: Patients mother
PG> > I got an email out of the blue today addressed to the MedWeb UK
PG> > site, entitled "Desperately searching for answers", allegedly
PG> > from the mother of a 12 year old with a rash and joint pains. My
PG> > reply has been sent. Any thoughts ?
> What does your defence Union say if your reply leads to legal
> action?
PG> Exactly, and am I in a position to perform an adequate
PG> examination/history to form a useful opinion, and can I copy the
PG> consultation to the patients GP, and, and, and...
I, and a number of other doctors and health professionals and lay-people
around the world, occasionally answer health queries in the open
Fido-net international ASK_A_NURSE echo. One can usually only comment
in broad generalities and state at the time that this is the case. It
is not necessary to post ones qualifications every time and all the
posts are judged on their merits I guess. I would be less happy to
continue a private correspondence in this manner and tend not to respond
to messages sent directly to me. In the end I suppose most of my
contributions are supplying information on a topic rather than clinical
opinion.
PG> I suggested the patient approached their doctor again to
PG> discuss their concerns.
This is frequently the sort of suffix to any comments made and the rules
of the echo make it quite clear that opinions expressed in the echo are
no subject for face to face consultations with the individual's own
doctor.
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