Coronavirus doctor's diary: 'Fake news makes patients think we want them to die'
Conspiracy theories have been spreading within parts of the BAME community that hospital staff want them to die, reports Dr John Wright of Bradford Royal Infirmary - meanwhile, figures suggest an increase in deaths in the city outside hospital., and this is a big concern in Bradford, where almost a third of our population is of South Asian heritage.
I know from my work in epidemics in Africa that where there is fear and panic, and patients become isolated from their families, it doesn't take long for rumours and fake news stories to start circulating. Here's one, which is totally false:"Please don't show my details. I work for BRI hospital trust. I am begging all the[community], if you have any health condition please do NOT go to hospital. You will not come back alive from this trust… Also have your daily black seed oil which prevents all disease."
"I've had patients who want to self-discharge because they think we're trying to kill them. I've had a patient a couple of weeks ago, who wanted to self-discharge because her family was messaging her telling her that if she dies in our care, we won't tell them and we'll just burn her body. These are the things that are being spread around," a nurse, Sophie Bryant-Miles, tells me.
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