Social media is commonly used by physicians to share knowledge, provide medical education materials, and even seek peer advice. But is enough being done to protect patient privacy, especially for younger patients? A recent study published in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery examined parent attitudes toward posting photographs of children undergoing facial surgery on social media (2024;153:887-893).
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May 2024The researchers used full-face photos of pediatric plastic surgery patients with craniofacial defects and those who had received treatment for defects that had been posted publicly on social media to develop a 51-question survey about sharing pediatric patient photos on social media and consent for such sharing. A total of 656 parent surveys were included in the analysis.
Nine out of 10 respondents believe physicians should obtain consent from parents before posting images of their children. A majority of respondents also felt that assent of the child to post their photos should be documented, ranging from 84.5% for 12-year-olds to 55.8% for five- to eight-year-olds. Even for patients as young as one year old, 42.1% of respondents felt that assent (or lack of ability to assent) should be documented. Around 40% of respondents said that posting images of pediatric patients on social media felt like exploitation.
“Based on our findings, we recommend seeking consent from not only the parents but also the children themselves, at ages as young as nine years,” said senior author Kenneth L. Fan, MD, associate professor of plastic and reconstructive surgery at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C., in a press release.
The authors concluded, “The use of social media … has the promise to positively affect the field, but it must be done professionally and ethically with an intentional focus on the vulnerability of the patient.”