Nearly one year ago, an infectious disease physician named Dr. Steven Beutler wrote a piece in the New Republic where he asked the speculative question–Many mental health professionals believe the president is ill. But what if the cause is an untreated STD?
In a Feb. 2017 interview from the radio show, infectious disease physician, Amesh Adalja, MD joined me to discuss neurosyphilis and to give his thoughts on the article.
Should an infectious disease physician be writing about this?
Dr Adalja noted, “I do think that it gets very borderline where a doctor can comment on a case from a distance. It’s one thing when a disease has been diagnosed, but it’s quite another when you’re speculating without much basis in fact.”
Adalja does point out that this is nothing new–that there is a history of physicians doing this.
“I think it’s a speculative hypothesis piece…he gives you this disclaimer…It’s not something I would have done.”
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Intro music: “Rapture” by Ross Bugden