Resident loses residency because of pro Palestinian posts on social media ( be careful all)

[upstudent]

Dear firends whatever your political beliefs are , this thread is meant only as warning to all to avoid social media posts.

Whatever happens to this young doctor, we must remember that a slightly misinterpreted social media posts can hurt.

Im my personal opinion Dr. Yoni Freedhoff the complaining physican went wayy overboard to try and destroy a young physician's life.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/university-ottawa-doctor-suspended-palestine-petition-1.7034464

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[VA Hopeful Dr]

I love how often this sort of thing happens and no one seems to learn anything from it.

I will spell it out very clearly:

Do not post anything on social media that can be traced back to you if it is at all controversial.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

It depends on what they posted.

There's a difference between supporting the Palestinian people and often what is really just organic free range antisemitism packaged as advocacy. There is a difference between supporting a humanitarian ceasefire and glorifying terrorism and murder.

Remember there was a Palestinian Resident who a few years back threatened to poison her Jewish patients. And as a result was appropriately fired.

I don't think someone should be fired for political agency. But we have and we continue to see conflicts like this as venues for dehumanization of Jews, Arabs, etc.

 

[SurfingDoctor]

I'm not sure I would allow some idiot who can't help themselves from typing some dumbsh-t, hot take online even prune my cactus, let alone operate on my memaw.

 

[Angus Avagadro]

I love how often this sort of thing happens and no one seems to learn anything from it.

I will spell it out very clearly:

Do not post anything on social media that can be traced back to you if it is at all controversial.

I might add Don't post anything on social media. It is no different than writing a column for a newspaper or magazine. Anything that makes your school or employer look bad can come back on you hard. All you need is an over zealous person to make your life miserable. I didn't post on social media where I might be identified until I retired. It's not worth it.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

So my opinion:

I don't think signing a petition is worth a suspension or is an issue.

Was the resident using a substack to post a professional journal? Is it associated with the hospital or university? How does this conflict with social media policies applying to all hospital staff?

It sounds like concerns arose based on complaints. So I presume a traditional ombudsman process and review is happening.

Otherwise, I agree... we haven't done a great job with balancing advocacy with professionalism. And there are enough problems with doing that through curriculum and decree anyway.

 

[pierty]

It depends on what they posted.

It's in the article. He posted "from the river to the sea," which calls for the genocide of jews and the elimination of Israel as a nation from the earth.

Social media has a tendency of radicalizing people through content engagement - the more sensational the content, the longer people will engage in that content, and the more similar and extremist content gets recommended to them. With situations like this in the world, all nuance and detail gets thrown out the window; provocative images and stories, often fabricated, are more compelling. And the more content one is fed, the more they believe that everyone in their circle believes in the same thing, or they feel that they don't care about other opinions because the people that hold them are dehumanized. They then post to add to the rabbit hole for social validation; they don't expect outcomes like this.

Being professional, level-headed, and empathetic is just as important in medicine as in everyday life. Avoiding social media as much as possible helps get us there.

 

[Angler]

Don't post anything on social media.

One of my daughters is a social media marketing specialist for a startup, so she has to be on ticktock instagm, etc. So, obviously, her livelihood is dependent on doing "these things." We talk about these things. I'm torn.

But I agree here with AA, don't post anything that can come back to bite you. The easiest guideline, is don't post. Just lurk. It's noble to champion causes that resonate with your core beliefs, but you have to be realistic, especially when you're young, and have a ton of human capital that is waiting to crumble. When you're old and rich from your years as an attending, then you can post your rants to your heart's content!

 

[Hollow Knight]

Like VAHopefulDoc said, I personally just avoid social media. I mean I'm on SDN but I try to be very very careful not to dox myself, and I'm not talking politics, I'm just trying to advise premed students. I actually got banned from r/premed once; I don't want to go into the reason why, but just look at my post history on here and make of that information what you will. My point is that it's so very easy to get into trouble, even if your intentions aren't bad.

@Angler, your daughter is working for a company, so hopefully if she just sticks with the "Hey you guys should buy our [product]!" She'll be absolutely fine. Plus, since it's her job, she probably puts a lot more effort into her posts than most people who do social media as a hobby. I would have a hard time doing that job though.

As far as this student goes- I can't tell if he's racist or not. But I've seen so many people in the West say antisemitic things recently that I wouldn't be surprised if he was. Regardless, he'd still have a job right now if he just stayed off social media and kept his mouth shut when working in a professional capacity.

 

[PathNeuroIMorFM]

Incorrect title of post. He was suspended. Did not lose his position (yet).

Either way, yes, 99% of us know we *should not* post political/controversial statements online, but honestly it's so disheartening and dystopian that we can be punished for political views that do not intervene with patient care. It's not vaccine denial or goes agianst any care guidelines. None of us would be punished for our views on the Ukraine conflict or saying "Free Nepal", because none of that really affects how you view patients. How is this any different?

"From the river to the sea" is not an antisemitic dog-whistle when used by regular young Americans. To your average Joe all American, not a terminally online keyboard warrior or not part of an extremist group, it is literally just a catchy slogan to write on signs, like "Black Lives Matter" or "Don't Tread on Me". If he knew this was a racist dogwhistle (hint: most American's don't), then he wouldn't have made a sign for it. I'm not convinced this resident doctor with literally no ties to islamism or arabic family just casually promoting genocide.

 

[upstudent]

May I add that different people have different beliefs of what to the River and the seas mean .The worse this man should suffer is a warning letter .

 

[DarkBluMage]

Ignorance of what a phrase means doesn’t excuse using it. This is why you don’t virtue signal about things you don’t fully understand. Mixture of ignorance and zeal on full display.

 

[upstudent]

Whether aspirational or not is tough to interpret . This should mean the end of a career .

 

[upstudent]

Ignorance of what a phrase means doesn’t excuse using it. This is why you don’t virtue signal about things you don’t fully understand. Mixture of ignorance and zeal on full display.

Keep in mind , we do have freedom of speech or expression in Canada that is constitutionally protected. I do not believe what this physician said comes near hate speech.

 

[allantois]

People really need to mind their own business and what’s going on in their immediate environment;

More Antisemitism From the Canadian Medical Association

This time from their "antiracist" board member

yonifreedhoffmd.substack.com

 

[SurfingDoctor]

As a caveat, the associate professor who got the resident fired... also sounds like a giant douche based on his own insufferable Twitter feed. I mean, JFC... what the hell is this from his Twitter profile?!

https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1719437974721466368/JqHLQnn-_400x400.jpg

I mean, I think it's from "Inglourious Basterds"... but still, hard to comment on professionalism based on that.

So I guess both the resident and the professor are idiots. Huzzah!

One can only imagine when this all comes back to haunt people with all their hot takes... no matter what their position is.

 

[NotAProgDirector]

Both of them are throwing around terms which are certain to get people riled up. "Blood libel", "Apartheid", "Genocide". The faculty member got all upset about the CMA posts about the hospital explosion in Gaza and lack of any correction / apology (not sure any apology was needed for what was posted, honestly), then was hunting on their site for more and found this student's posts. The student took a public facing position, should know that their feed becomes fair game for criticism. Both come across as looking poorly.

 

[SurfingDoctor]

Seriously, when did people become all dumb nutjobs and move away from the important online discussions, like was the dress blue or gold?!

Spoiler: Answer

If you said gold, you are a dumb nutjob

 

[upstudent]

As a caveat, the associate professor who got the resident fired... also sounds like a giant douche based on his own insufferable Twitter feed. I mean, JFC... what the hell is this from his Twitter profile?……….

I agree others who commented on various forms also noticed 2 things he dresses like a character out of the sopranos . This Yoni Freedhoff MD is this the face of professionalism?

 

[SurfingDoctor]

I agree others who commented on various forms also noticed 2 things he dresses like a character out of the sopranos . This Yoni Freedhoff MD is this the face of professionalism?
View attachment 379795

I already stated, it’s Eli Roth’s character from Inglourious Basterds. The dude who likes smashing Nazis heads in with bats.

Good movie… still weird to make that one’s Twitter profile picture and get one’s panties in a bunch about online professionalism.

 

[CRRT]

I already stated, it’s Eli Roth’s character from Inglourious Basterds. The dude who likes smashing Nazis heads in with bats.

Good movie… still weird to make that one’s Twitter profile picture and get one’s panties in a bunch about online professionalism.

Israel has a far right problem. The hostage exchange was going well and by now all the hostages would have been released if Ben Gvir hadn’t thrown a spanner in the wheels.

 

[SurfingDoctor]

Israel has a far right problem. The hostage exchange was going well and by now all the hostages would have been released if Ben Gvir hadn’t thrown a spanner in the wheels.

I don’t know about that per se, but associate professor Twitter bro lives in Canada.

 

[gyngyn]

We'll have to close the thread if it can't stay civil.
Multiple inflammatory posts have been deleted.