As a medical professional, you will want to do all you can to protect your professional license. Without it, you will not have the right to work in the career you spent years training for and gaining experience in.
Things can happen that result in you rightly or wrongly coming under investigation by the professional licensing board. If this occurs, then one precaution you should probably take is to give social media a break, at least until the matter is resolved.
Emotions may get the better of you
Many people have posted things they regret saying, especially during tough emotional situations such as when they find out their whole livelihood is at risk. Unfortunately, you cannot just make those things you post disappear. People can grab screenshots and those words may come back to harm your case:
- Firstly, you might inadvertently say something that contradicts the version of events you gave and helps convince the licensing board that they should suspend your license.
- Secondly, you might overshare, and give away personal information about a patient involved in your case which might be considered a breach of patient confidentiality.
- Thirdly, if you are aggressive online toward someone who disputes your version or is part of the case against you, it might be seen as an attempt to pressure people to lie for you or drop their case against you.
- Fourth, even if you do not worsen the license investigation, employers and colleagues may see what you post. If they consider it unprofessional or unpleasant, it could harm your prospects even if the licensing case comes to nothing.
Knowing your license is at stake won’t be easy, so you may want legal guidance to understand more about what you should and should not be doing at this time.
