Someone I care about was put on a powerful immune suppressant a while back. The COVID mortality rate for people on the drug is around 1/3 of infections. Guess how many times they were told they should wear a respirator in shared indoor spaces and to try to avoid infections...
Hint: It was zero times.
@PacificNic why would they need to be told that? It's literally common sense at this point. I mean, is this person completely medically illiterate, or has absolutely no idea about why masks are good, or what?
@BetaCuck4Lyfe The average person has been trained since childhood to accept all advice from doctors as gospel. Almost all the doctors I've interacted with are minimizers. How would the average person, who lacks scientific literacy, know their doctor is wrong? To the average person, we're just conspiracy theorists because doctors and other authority figures have convinced them of it. That, and they're scared.
This person was well aware of what they needed to do to stay safe before they were sick, but that's not typical. If you go to a cancer ward today, you won't see people wearing masks, even though they should.
Doctors have a moral responsibility to appropriately educate themselves and their patients. Failing to educate a patient about the risks and potential appropriate risk mitigations associated with their medication is a dereliction of duty.
