Some of my Facebook friends are medical students who post cellphone pictures of patients with what these friends believe to be comical maladies, with captions like “A 5-foot-9 Hispanic male walks into a bar . . .” under a picture of a patient with a piece of rebar piercing his abdomen. The postings don’t include faces or names but still seem questionable. Doesn’t this violate patient privacy? NAME WITHHELD, NEW YORK

Were these soon-to-be doctors engaging in such gallows humor only among themselves, it might be seen as a harmless way to cope with deeply disturbing situations. But although these med students rightly strive to disguise their human punch lines — no, sorry, their patients — that is insufficient. It is essential that those photographed are not identifiable to others, of course, but it is also important that the patient does not recognize himself online. A doctor should not embarrass a patient or otherwise add to his discomfort, a likely outcome should the patient encounter such an image. The chances of that happening increase as the injuries depicted grow more grotesque and less commonplace. How many 5-foot-9 Hispanic males are impaled with reinforcing rod? It will not improve the doctor-patient relationship when that Facebook image goes viral and the patient learns the doctor treats him like a cartoon.

Image Credit... Illustration by Matthew Woodson

A doctor that I consulted acknowledges that battlefield humor can be a benign response to harrowing circumstances but tells me in an e-mail that “public displays of such humor on the Internet, along with photos that even if not identified could be identifiable, are inappropriate and unprofessional.”