Why Medical Influencing Is Like the Wild West
As Ireland navigates its new National Endometriosis Framework and the ESAIS pathway, patients are still being left with much of the responsibility for researching overseas doctors and clinics themselves.
This is an enormous burden to place on people who are already sick, frightened and desperately seeking appropriate care.
Patient experiences matter, but lived experience is not medical expertise. A clinic that worked for one person may not be appropriate for another patient with different symptoms, medical conditions, previous surgeries or disease progression.
We need:
- Transparent standards for assessing overseas clinics
- Properly trained endometriosis consultants in Ireland
- Full multidisciplinary diagnostic assessments
- Trauma-informed care across health services and patient organisations
- Clear safeguards and qualified facilitators within support groups
- A properly resourced centre of excellence for endometriosis in Ireland
- Patients should not have to rely on social media recommendations to make life-changing medical decisions.
I have written more about my own experiences, the dangers of medical influencing and why popularity should never be mistaken for medical credibility.
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Thank you to everyone who has signed, shared and continued supporting this petition. Please keep sharing it so that patients are no longer left to navigate these decisions alone.