^
Yessirree.Riffing on what Ninja stated-- we live in a SUPER small town-- and we do run into our providers just out and about living here. He knows that I help moderate/administrate an online support group, and he knows that I tend to post (re-post) interactions with him-- and that sometimes I'll ask questions that I'm specifically going to post about, etc.
He has
occasionally-- and
VERY judiciously--
used that knowledge to leverage wider visibility for something that was a professional
need on his part-- such as the plan to scrap allergy coverage in the state children's insurance coverage a few years back. I posted his comments directly along with his request to contact state legislators about it.
Pretty sure that such a thing would not be permitted now under the more Draconian "communication center" operating under centralized control. It kind of seems more and more as though that particular org would be HAPPIEST with telemedicine with a ten second delay, so that they could "edit" doctor/patient interactions more effectively.
Ahem.
I'm quite confident that Dr. Awesome knows who I am, and where to find me online. I've never ever, ever cyberstalked Dr. Awesome (not even a little), and as far as I know, he's never cyberstalked me, either. As ninja notes-- I don't want to stare into that abyss, and I also don't want it looking back-- which is why I still protect my anonymity online, and I don't FB. There are things that I'm happier not knowing about a physician that I need to seek treatment from. There are some things that I feel so strongly about that they'd be deal-breaking for me personally, even-- and I appreciate it when a physician understands that our
professional relationship needs to stay within certain boundaries. So as I noted, he knows where to find me. Don't think that he HAS very often-- but I'm pretty sure he's peeked a bit over the years. Enough to know that nobody gets away with saying anything
crazy here, and that we're pretty pro-AAAAI party-line. We're evidence-driven, mostly. I think that reassured him enormously, and it let him know that I really am
not using social media (even here) to question his professional judgment, etc.