Seen on Twitter recently:

Troll: I demand pictures of your full ICU to prove to me it’s full

Female surgeon: None of us owes you a damn thing. Especially not pictures that will get us fired. But I’ll get right on that…

What do you do if you accidentally injure yourself while working or making home improvements? Do you call 911 or have someone drive you to the ER?

What do you do if you have high blood pressure, or diabetes, or depression? Do you go to a primary care doctor?

What do you do if you have severe arthritic hip pain that doesn't resolve with conservative (non-operative) management? Do you consider talking to an orthopedic surgery about a hip replacement?

I don't know what portion of the population inherently trust the medical community, but for the remainder of this editorial, I will presume that it's a majority. For those that don't, this doesn't apply. If you don't trust modern medicine, I won't convince you that you should trust our reports about this pandemic.

Let's assume you accept modern medicine, including visiting the emergency department, having a primary care doctor, taking prescription medicine, and any of the other various diagnostic tests, consultations, and treatments. If this is the case, why would you think we would voluntarily try to deceive you about the capacity and occupancy of our ICU facilities?

Why would so many medical community leaders actively speak out with a nearly singular voice to spread a lie? Ranging from the widely known Dr. Sanjay Gupta to a wide assortment of medical providers in many specialties. We have nothing to gain from building this whole façade. This isn't just a few people speaking up. This is a monumental effort to warn people. Social media has given a voice- and many have worked very hard to dispel the myths spread by many loud voices that continue to spread falsehoods.

We have nothing to gain. You trust us to save your life when you have a heart attack, need emergency surgery, or care for you when you're severely ill from any matter of diseases. We haven't changed as a community to collectively spread these myths.

It really is as bad as we say.

We genuinely don't get paid more for patients who die from COVID.

We don't have adequate PPE.

We aren't lying.

If you continue to deny reality, we will still care for you or your family and friends, in the unfortunate case you become ill, because that's what we do. We are just hoping that we will have the resources you need. And if we stretch our personnel any thinner, we will not have enough nurses and providers to care for you. We are the last hope. Don't make choices you'll regret.