Abstract
The widespread utilization of social media in recent terror attacks in major European cities should raise a “red flag” for the emergency medical response teams. The question arises as to the impact of social media during terror events on the healthcare system. Information was published well before any emergency authority received a distress call or was requested to respond. Photos published at early stages of the attacks, through social media were uncensored, presenting identifiable pictures of victims. Technological advancements of recent years decrease and remove barriers that enable the public to use them as they see fit. These attacks raise ethical considerations for the patients and their rights as they were outsourced from the medical community, into the hands of the public. The healthcare system should leverage social media and its advantages in designing response to terror, but this requires a re-evaluation and introspection into the current emergency response models.
Highlights
The widespread utilization of social media in recent terror attacks of major European cities, including Brussels (March 2016), Paris (November 2015 & June 2016), and Istanbul (June 2016) should raise a “red flag” for the emergency response community, most for medical response teams.Social media has been researched extensively in regards to emergency management for both natural and manmade emergencies [1, 2]
The question arises as to the impact of social media during terror events, and whether the bi-directional and extremely rapid communication should serve as a wake-up call for the healthcare
* Correspondence: tomersi@asonot.org.il 1Emergency Medicine Department, Recanati School of Community Health Professions, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beersheba, Israel 3PREPARED Center for Emergency Response Research, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheba, Israel Full list of author information is available at the end of the article system concerning ethical norms that up to now have been accepted as important
Summary
The widespread utilization of social media in recent terror attacks of major European cities, including Brussels (March 2016), Paris (November 2015 & June 2016), and Istanbul (June 2016) should raise a “red flag” for the emergency response community, most for medical response teams.Social media has been researched extensively in regards to emergency management for both natural and manmade emergencies [1, 2]. Main text The widespread utilization of social media in recent terror attacks of major European cities, including Brussels (March 2016), Paris (November 2015 & June 2016), and Istanbul (June 2016) should raise a “red flag” for the emergency response community, most for medical response teams. * Correspondence: tomersi@asonot.org.il 1Emergency Medicine Department, Recanati School of Community Health Professions, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beersheba, Israel 3PREPARED Center for Emergency Response Research, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheba, Israel Full list of author information is available at the end of the article system concerning ethical norms that up to now have been accepted as important.
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