Doctor turns to his colleagues: "Suddenly everyone is acting like virologists"

Daniel Schölz / Facebook The surgeon Daniel Schölz

Monday, 08/17/2020, 10:47 am

In many media reports, doctors have spoken out about the Corona crisis. But not all of them are experts on pandemics. The Bavarian doctor Daniel Schölz is now calling on his colleagues in a viral Facebook post: General practitioners should not act as virologists.

They are everywhere. They make assessments, dare to make prognoses, and criticize policy decisions. In the current Corona crisis, medical professionals are likely to be heard more than ever before, especially in the media. With a complex challenge like this one, experts are particularly in demand.

Radiologist talks about corona pandemic - does that make sense?
But: Not every medical professional is really an expert on viruses and pandemics. The German head of the Medical Association Frank Ulrich Montgomery, who likes to speak up in interviews during the crisis, is a radiologist, for example. Does someone like that really understand anything about the corona pandemic?

No, says Daniel Schölz. In a Facebook post shared hundreds of times, the doctor from Rotenburg ob der Tauber in Bavaria made extensive criticism of colleagues who pose as experts in the current crisis.

"In the past few months, pulmonologists, microbiologists (which actually has nothing to do with virology), ENT doctors and general practitioners have acted as virologists," Schölz writes. “All of these colleagues who give their opinion on Sars-Cov-2 outside of their specialist area have as much knowledge of virology as I do. And I'm a surgeon. "

Schölz: "That would be absurd too"
Because, explains Scholz: “In the last 30 years there has been a previously unimaginable specialization in the individual areas. Every doctor in his specialty is well trained in exactly this. In his area of ​​expertise. "

Outside of the field, it is actually common among doctors to get advice from colleagues who are more knowledgeable. "If, as a surgeon, I have an ENT problem with a patient, I don't tinker with it myself, but send the patient to the ENT doctor." An ENT doctor, on the other hand, does not treat broken bones. “That would be absurd, too,” notes Schölz.

"With appendicitis to the ophthalmologist"
The surgeon's advice: “If I want to know something, if someone asks me, I look at the RKI website. Or take a look at the website of a virologist who is familiar with Sars-Cov-2. "It is important to listen to the actual experts," not those who open their mouths just because they are 'doctors'. " , adds Schölz: "You wouldn't go to the ophthalmologist with appendicitis either."