A new video with the title “ER Vlog” was uploaded to the video platform YouTube by the channel ER Story. It features bodycam footage of a doctor at a university hospital performing CPR on an emergency patient and the patient’s eventual death after the attempt failed. Receiving heavy criticism from the public after the video went viral, appropriate disciplinary action is now being considered against the doctor. The university hospital has also taken measures to prevent the doctor from temporarily giving medical treatment.
The doctor posted the YouTube video on April 15. The four-and-a-half-minute video shows a medical team performing CPR and intubating a man who was brought to the emergency room after a car accident. As the patient’s pulse does not return to normal despite persistent CPR, the doctor says, “I’m afraid we won’t be able to save the patient. I’m heartbroken,” and declares the patient dead.
The criticism was harsh. The public first pointed out the problem of filming the situation itself. It was referred to as being almost like hidden-camera footage, or molka, which is the illegal act of filming someone without their consent. The doctor, however, claimed that the bodycam footage was not meant to be a molka recording. More severe criticism followed based on the disregard for medical ethics on show in the video, which are the moral values that medical professionals should always have in mind when practicing medicine, especially when handling the sensitive matter of declaring death.
These controversies are centered around whether doctors should simply be seen as individuals, or people with social responsibilities. This doctor had taken his occupational role over to a more individual level and started filming videos at his workplace and uploading them for the world to see. Considering this voluntary action, it could be said that the doctor has failed to meet the responsibilities of his occupation. Thus, his right to film and upload the content of his choice as an individual “YouTuber” should not be respected in these circumstances.
This dispute also raises the issue of where the line should be drawn when creating educational content, which is what the doctor claims was his motive behind filming and uploading the sensitive footage. According to medical lawyer Shin Hyun-ho, “It is hard to see the uploaded video as educational material because the doctor uploaded it on YouTube, where unidentifiable viewers can always watch it.” There is also the possibility that the content can be exported and manipulated for the wrong reasons, further endangering the patient’s privacy.
Moreover, there needs to be more education of doctors and students in the medical field in order to stop such actions from occurring again. Besides reemphasizing the importance of medical ethics and its impact on the daily lives of medical workers, new sets of guidelines should be developed for online medical ethics. Incidents of death, for example, should be made more difficult to upload by doctors due to the stronger moral consequences. Educational material on ER scenes should also be screened for their objective legitimacy and distributed officially by hospitals or individually only after receiving consent from the relevant medical institutions.