Sunday, June 4, 2017

Can we ethically name the plastic surgeon in whose center a woman has died?

I am sorry to disappoint you. This is not adding more sensation to the already dramatic news that a woman died in a plastic surgeon's center in Lebanon (note that apparently the center is not part of the syndicate of hospitals in Lebanon). The news is all over the place and even got to be in the headlines of the evening bulletins on television.
But here's an ethical dilemma, can use the name of that surgeon in whose clinic the woman died? The star surgeon whom it transpires already had his licence revoked for six months in 2012 (I also read that he appealed that decision and won), was said to have fled in Cyprus (but later reports indicated he was banned from travelling until the end of the investigations and was present in Lebanon).
John Le Carre once wrote something to the effect of "people don't care about the aftermath of sensation", and now the woman is dead and is to be buried leaving behind two small orphaned children. And soon this tragedy will be shelved and forgotten.
I am still however perplexed, can we ethically name the doctor in question?
Some outlets are doing so, and others not (I am not even sure of the reasons these outlets chose to say the name while others are just saying things like "plastic surgeon" or "beauty center in Metn"). But comedian Jean Bou Gedeon put it best in his tweet:
"What has happened is difficult (saab) Nader"... So there, we can say it without saying it, just like the doctor himself skirted the law of advertising when it comes to the medical profession.
In case you want to know what I wrote about the ad posted above when I originally ran it on February 1st, 2012;
"According to the laws of the medical profession in Lebanon doctors are not allowed to do ads on a personal basis, which is why, by managing to circumvent this strict law the doctor in question was able to issue his ad, make his target audience understand the product all while staying at the innocent side of the law. For those who do did not get it, the ad says "beauty is rare (which means Nader) and difficult (which means Saab)"...."
So the doctor circumvented the law, and - even if we cannot name him (I still have no idea if we can or cannot) - there are many ways to imply the name without saying it as Jean Bou Gedeon proved. Ironically, the doctor in question started the trend himself, now he fell on his own sword - sadly taking with him a 33 year old female patient by the name of Farah Kassab.