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Jul 17, 2025, 09:03

Liz O’Riordan: Fighting Misinformation

Liz O’Riordan, Breast Surgeon with Breast Cancer and an Advocate for Cancer Awareness, shared a post on LinkedIn:

“Every time I go away on holiday, someone posts something medically incorrect about breast cancer on Instagram and I can feel my blood pressure start to rise.

This weekend was no different. But I listened to my great coach Clare Walsh. She told me that my peace of mind, my holiday, my sanity were not worth destroying because of a 90 second video. She reminded me that it’s not my job to debunk every bit of cancer misinformation on the internet. That instead of getting angry and doing a reaction video, I should wait till I get back and calmly post the correct information. Rise above.

She was right.
I did spend 1-2 hours Googling and checking facts and asking people to send me screenshots as the women involved had blocked me. And then I pushed it to one side.

A small part of me wants to do a typical reaction video.
You know the ones.
Rage Bait.
They get all the views.

But is it really the kind of content I want to be known for?

As a surgeon I want my followers to trust me and respect me and look to me for facts, not flippancy.

How do you keep sane when something threatens your precious free time?
Is it really important to jump on something in the heat of the moment?
If you wait a day or two will the news cycle have moved on?
Does it matter? What if people could come to harm based on a reel?”

More posts featuring Liz O’Riordan on OncoDaily.