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Would you watch a live surgery on Snapchat? Plastic surgeon Dr. Matthew Schulman, who pioneered sharing tummy tucks and butt augmentations, joins The Doctors to share how and why he's taken his surgeries to online.
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As an early adopter of Snapchat, Dr. Schulman says, "It's a way to show real surgeries, in real time, unedited. And right now 95 percent of my patients that come to me for surgery voluntarily agree to a Snapchat."
Plastic surgeon Dr. Andrew Ordon wonders if ethically this goes a little too far? While Dr. Schulman is no stranger to this criticism he points out that every patient is willing (with an extensive release signed beforehand) and that he's really just trying to educate people about what real surgery looks like.
ER physician Dr. Travis Stork shares that he thinks Dr. Schulman's use of Snapchat seems really smart for him and his practice - Schulman is racking up 3.5 million views a day - and he likes the fact that he's not glorifying it. But what if everyone started doing this? Dr. Stork also wonders what happens if something goes wrong in the operating room. Not only would it be on record, but it would be easy to say people were distracted by the filming. Dr. Stork wonders if it's worth the risk.
Dr. Schulman shares that surgeons have a responsibility to do this ethically, responsibly and professionally. He's working with the governing body of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons to help develop guidelines for social media. He believes it's a great tool if done right. You can check out Dr. Schulman's Snapchats @NYCPlasticSurg.
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Would you watch a live surgery on Snapchat?
