Doctors are suing to silence patients who share negative opinions of the them online
“Doctors have long accepted that their patients share opinions about the care they have received, knowing that satisfied patients will refer others while those not so happy with their bedside manner might encourage prospective customers to seek treatment elsewhere. But when William Boothe, an ophthalmologist in Texas, saw that one disgruntled former patient was posting his complaints on the Internet, he launched an aggressive response. He sued for libel and other claims, and earlier this year a state judge ordered the material removed from the Web.
The case is one of a growing number of legal battles being waged over Internet postings about medical complaints. More patients are taking their opinions of their local doctors to the Internet, and a wider audience, and that has some medical providers on edge. Several Web sites have sprung up that encourage patients to post anonymous reviews of doctors and dentists, and some frustrated patients have created entire Web sites to criticize specific physicians.
‘The potential problems are huge,’ said Matt Messina, a dentist in Fairview Park, Ohio, and a spokesman for the American Dental Association. ‘My reputation is my stock in trade “¦ and we work years and years to build that reputation. To have that shattered potentially [by an Internet posting] is a concern.’
Patient advocates, meanwhile, say patients have First Amendment rights to describe their experiences with physicians. ‘Blogs and personal Web sites are no different than talking over the back fence,’ said Charles Inlander, president of People’s Medical Society, a patient advocacy group in Allentown, Pa. ‘Those who read it have to take it with whatever grain of salt you would take, just like a neighbor. It’s too bad if doctors are insulted by this.’” (via GruntDoc)
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doctorsknow.us was taken down when patients and advocacy groups complained about the information shared there (public info since it represents court filings).
Why should it be any different the other way around?
I had a disgruntled parent of a patient make such a posting on a diabetes discussion group board.
In his description of his experiences with our medical encounter he described his welling inner rage, tightening his hand into a fist and visualizing striking me.
For all his graphic detail he can now only enter my hospital and clinics when accompanied continuously by security. If he would get his posting off the web site and some anger management classes then perhaps I could let my workplace relax his restrictions. In the mean time, workplace safety rules are my ally.
Are you really afraid of the guy, or just exacting revenge for a negative portrayal of you?
Do you really think he is gunning for you? Or is this just a way to make his life difficult?
“Are you really afraid of the guy, or just exacting revenge for a negative portrayal of you?
Do you really think he is gunning for you? Or is this just a way to make his life difficult?”
Obviously you’ve never been assaulted by a patient. The problem I have with having security escort a potentially violent patient out is that it looks really good for the sharks if something happens to the scumbag once he hits the streets, ie instead of hitting me he gets hit by a truck.
“Blogs and personal Web sites are no different than talking over the back fence”
Not really, unless you have password-protected your website and have restricted access to those you would normally encounter in a conversation. Even then, damaging someone else’s reputation by spreading un-truths might still leave you liable.
Public website blog content is no different than publishing abroad or broadcasting, with worldwide distribution, in fact. Likening it to “talking over the fence” is patently ridiculous, it is much more public than that, particularly since web content is both searchable and link-able.
But, if what is said is true or expressed as an opinion…then what’s the problem?
Okay, I complained about my doc in a blog, but I kept it anonymous . . .that way I addressed the issue without tarnishing his reputation. http://www.xanga.com/difficultpt.
Myself like many others in Wichita Ks has had the misfortune of running into a terribly bad Dr, named jace Hyder. If he was truely a doctor he would care about those he hurts. His response to me was he wanted more money to fix his mistakes! Thats a pig not a doctor, people need to know about such pigs. It could save someones life. Screw your over inflated ego about yourself.If your truely a doctor you can’t be having these problems.Only an idiot couldn’t figure that out.
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