Relevant in this era of anonymous doctor-rating websites. However, according to this article, there’s very little feasible recourse for the physician.
Update:
A “difficult patient’s” take:
If physicians see Rate MDs as a tool to use in their favor, it can be their friend. The odds are slim that the negative remarks are coming primarily from disgruntled drug seekers. Honestly, think of the average “drug seeker”””do you see him/her rushing off to find a computer so they can rate the doctor who denied the drugs? I see him/her rushing off to find another doctor . . . Most of the comments I saw when I checked out the site were positive.
Related posts:
- You Might Be A Drug Seeker If . . .
- Drug seeking in primary care
- Is No Free Lunch paternalistic?
- Has drug seeking behavior reached the tipping point?
- Hospital administration supporting drug seekers?
- ER ultrasounds in pregnant women
- Pain in the ER
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The recourse is pretty obvious.
People will be saying all sorts of things online, more to come. The only answer is to create a public online persona with greater visibility and invite patients and colleagues who have good things to say to do so.
I have written more about this dilemma: Physician Review Sites: Here to Stay, Despite Concerns.
These sites at least need a prominent disclaimer to remind the reader the intrinsic value of the ‘comments’.
“The comments rendered are not evaluated for truthfulness. There is no way to determine whether the commenter was ever a patient of the doctor in question. The comments could be libelous, and reproduction or retransmission of libelous comments itself could constitute libel on your part. Free advice is worth what you paid for it.”
As long as the systems are anonymous and don’t even pretend to moderate comments, then I don’t have any problem at all commenting on myself. Why should I let only the disgruntled spew vitriolic untruths, when I can balance things with positive fiction.
As long as the sites are open to manipulation by all I would be foolish not to manipulate my own set of reviews.
As long as the systems are anonymous and don’t even pretend to moderate comments, then I don’t have any problem at all commenting on myself. Why should I let only the disgruntled spew vitriolic untruths, when I can balance things with positive fiction.
As long as the sites are open to manipulation by all I would be foolish not to manipulate my own set of reviews.
This just goes to show why the first crop of “doctor-rating” sites will not go too far.
There is no reason to trust these anonymous reviews, positive or negative!
Kevin, Thanks for the pointer. I’ve put up my first round of comments on this at my site http://www.hellomarylu.com/?p=290 . I think there is a lot that can be done to reinvent the wheel on this problem and turn it into a productive tool. But it would take a serious amount of time and money to make it work right. Mary Lu
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