Chronicle Herald: Chief medical officer’s Lyme disease retweet likely violated policy — legal expert
January 29th, 2019 by Andrew Rankin The Chronicle Herald
HALIFAX, N.S. —
A recent tweet by Nova Scotia’s top doctor dismissing chronic Lyme disease as a pseudoscience supported by a cult following appears to violate the province’s social media policy, says a Dalhousie University law professor.
“What I also don’t understand is what does he really mean by the retweet,” said Wayne Mackay, an expert in public interest law.
“There’s a significant amount of public concern over it that he does need to make a statement of his motivations behind the retweet.”
Dr. Robert Strang, the province’s chief medical officer of health, has declined several requests from The Chronicle Herald for comment. Strang has not removed the controversial tweet he retweeted last Wednesday from an account named LymeScience. …
“The province’s social media policy says that violations of policy guidelines could result in dismissal. The Herald inquired with the province about whether it deemed Strang violated the policy and if he might be facing discipline.”
Who gets to say what is evidence? Dr. Strang shouldn’t be able to call it evidence if it is based on his personal opinion or the opinions of others. He doesn’t see or treat chronic or late Lyme patients nor do any doctors in Nova Scotia so on what is he basing his opinions? Lyme cases doubled last year in Nova Scotia to epidemic proportions and perhaps his easiest route was to attack the messenger or the Lyme movement. Something similar is happening with political parties recently that see the way to power by attacking the climate change movement even though we are only a decade from Armageddon.