Dr. Sean Conley's flubbed updates on Trump

[MunoRN, RN]

A Physician's skill at giving an update on a patient's status varies widely, some are amazing, some regularly require the nurse to go in afterwards and mop-up their mess.  Yet I can't say I've ever seen a doctor as bad at it as Dr. Conley has been, it's sort of impressive actually given how straightforward it should be on a fairly uncomplicated course such as that of the President. 

I do give him credit for at one point conceding that if it's specifics on the President's status that people want, he'll "need to check with the nursing staff", although I'm not sure why he didn't do that to begin with.

I think there's an explanation for his apparent ineptitude however.  Trump is getting a course of Remdesivir which is given under a EUA that has specific inclusion criteria.  My guess is that after Dr. Conley was evasive about / denied Trump needing supplemental oxygen the White House immediately put out a statement contradicting him because they realized it would then become apparent that Trump didn't meet the inclusion criteria.  Dr. Conley then clarified that his oxygen saturation had dropped to "less than 94%" and later stated is was "93%".   As it so happens, the inclusion criteria for Remdesivir is "oxygen saturation less than 94% on room air".  

Although that still doesn't explain his reasoning for admittedly lying about his status; 

Quote

“I was trying to reflect the upbeat attitude that the team, the president, over the course of this illness has had,” he said. “I didn’t want to give any information that might steer the course of illness in another direction.”

I personally can't imagine any credentialed physician who interacts with hospitalized patients lying to a patient about the status of their condition to keep their hopes up, in my experience that would result in probationary measures at the very least.  

[Kitiger, RN]

More likely, he wasn't lying to his patient; he was lying to us.

[Rogue1]

I've been thinking the same thing about this Dr. Conley--he does not even remotely sound like any doctor I have worked with.  He obfuscates and sounds unprofessional.  I would not be surprised if he is being bullied into saying things in particular ways--by guess who.  And his little patient was such a selfish, idiotic bully that he convinced people to take him off hospital grounds for a silly personal joyride while he endangered the poor people who had to drive/sit in that car with him (at minimum).  Some people at that hospital should be losing their jobs for that infection control fiasco.  It was shocking.  (And obviously infection control compliance is not Dr. Conley's strong suit....) 

[subee, MSN, CRNA]

Dr. Conley, Dr. Jackson - equally as malleable.

[nursej22, MSN, RN]

11 hours ago, Rogue1 said:

  And his little patient was such a selfish, idiotic bully that he convinced people to take him off hospital grounds for a silly personal joyride while he endangered the poor people who had to drive/sit in that car with him (at minimum).  Some people at that hospital should be losing their jobs for that infection control fiasco.  It was shocking.  (And obviously infection control compliance is not Dr. Conley's strong suit....) 

This makes me so angry, especially when compared to the stories I've heard and read about HCPs who have separated themselves from their families to prevent the spread of COVID-19. So many people have postponed so many things in their lives while this clown goes on a feel-good tour. And now he wants to go back to the White House and spread his germs there, picking up where he left on on Thursday. Why not just go golfing, and take his buddy Lindsey Graham along. 

[toomuchbaloney]

This all adds to my concern that even the educated among the military are, first and foremost, obligated to a chain of authority before any sense of patriotic duty.  Once again it appears that high ranking military will respond to irrational, illegal, and/or unsafe orders with silence and compliance as their knee jerk reaction.  Yet they want us to believe something not in evidence...that they will refuse unlawful orders. 

It's pretty telling that these active duty and veteran military are abusing public trust with their authoritarian nonsense and there is no repercussions at all for them from within the institutions themselves.  West Point (for example) apparently is comfortable with direct evidence that their graduates (like Pompeo, Espy or Cotton) are corrupt liars.