Patients are striking back at doctors via Google

A patient uses a blog to retaliate against a doctor:

Have you ever googled a doctor before a visit? I do it all the time and guess that many others do, as well, or at least should. Thanks to my rant here on my blog, when you google “[name deleted]“ my blog post is now the second result!

More on why your Google reputation is important for physicians.

Comments

Anonymous
The feeling of anonymity can lead people to say things on the web that they wouldn’t otherwise. Just a small embellishment of any fact about your target and you can become the recipient of a slander suit. Is there another Dr. Washburn anywhere in the country who could also be harmed by your posting?
You might think you’ll feel better getting ‘revenge’, but will your actions exacerbate subsequent patient’s experience with this doc? Perhaps he was just having a bad day and you’ve converted it into a bad month.
If you think that your actions will somehow positively affect this doc, will you responsibly monitor for the desired result and withdraw your post or ammend it to reward new behaviors? If you have no plan as to how to allow him to get off the shit-list, are you as terrible a fellow human as he?
Anonymous
Anon 2:55,
I agree with you. However, let’s turn this around. Suppose a patient has had a bad experience with his/her physician and the physician refuses to give the patient five minutes to discuss it. Patient then writes a letter to the clinic’s patient relations people. They forward a copy to the doctor, who gets upset, feels betrayed perhaps, and decides to terminate the relationship — which results in the patient losing access to every doctor in the practice.
What exactly makes that doctor’s decision any less subject to the same questions as you’ve posted? Couldn’t the patient have been having a bad day? Hey, at least he kept his comments confined within clinic walls. But the doctor’s retaliation is severe and goes into the patient’s permanent record, wherever that record goes. Will you argue that the termination is best for everyone? Let me quote your post: “If you think that your actions will somehow positively affect this [patient], will you responsibly monitor for the desired result and withdraw your [termination] to reward new behaviors? If you have no plan as to how to allow [the patient] to get off the shit-list, are you as terrible a fellow human as he?”
Retaliation sucks no matter which side you’re on.
Conciergedoc
There is a potential way to protect our reputations and head off this kind of virtual, indefensible slandering. A Physicians reputation is his livelihood. If the only thing on the internet about you is bad, forget about it. I Google all my parents doctors, referral recommendations, etc.
To head off the potentially disorganized yelling that could develop about me – it can happen, and much more often than we admit. Who hasn’t had a bad day at work?
To counter this, as soon as my practice opens, I’m asking all my patients to legitimately use a website (I choose Drscore.com) to review my performance. If I can build up a host off reasonable, fair review in a couple of months, then it would be hard for anyone – less official like Google posts – refute that I am a good doctor.
Doctors needs to cut of the pass, get our reputation online in a legitimate, fair, controlled way, otherwise we could become a victim just like Dr. Washburn.
Anonymous
It wasn’t through the internet, but I choose to turn the other cheek when a doctor slandered me repeatedly during an employment dispute–after we agreed not to talk about each other. He eventually self-destructed and I was vindicated but I don’t think I would let that pass again. My reputation is my livelihood and if anyone attacks it again with false statements, I am going after them full force.
Mike
CAn doctors rate patients in the same way? MAn, that would be sweet!
But of course, now patients are “customers”, and the customer is always right. Doctors can NEVER be abused by a patient, right? Heck no. We should just be grateful that people let us see them.
I know one patient that complained on the internet about a doctor and she NEVER EVEN SAW THEM! She was upset because she didnt have her insurance card and the doctor couldn’t confirm coverage.
Anonymous
Agree with Anon 7:51P
This woman is terribly angry and frustrating to every physician who will be unfortunate to encounter her. She receives SSI for some dx like FMS or CFS [?] yet gunning for a dx of Sjogren’s on her 2nd blog [too much free time in her hands?]
She herself admits that she ‘tires easily’ resenting her own mother when she did not “understand” her fatigability! Is she a good case for the all-knowing doc from New England who recently published a book about how doctors think? [his name escapes me now...]
As to Dr Washburn’s misfortune, she had to deal with this woman’s teenage daughter who bled post coitus at 35 wks AOG. Who the hell will have intercourse at 35 wks and get hysterical about bleeding – if as she stated, understanding that her teenage-daughter’s pregnancy is high risk???
Of course, her account is the only true side of the story too…even if we do not know what truly transpired.
Perhaps the business model of insurance for docs advertised in this blog is becoming more appealing [refresh us with a link please?]
Anonymous
And who do we have to thank for the wonderful junk science garbage can diagnoses such as fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome… Giving a name to the subjective whining of a typical 4Fer with zero objective organic findings only helps to exacerbate their whiny victicrat mentality.
~Criminallopath~
Bruce Small
From the woman’s blog, complaining about her husband: “Since he works 24 hr shifts at the fire dept. and leaves straight from there to go to his second job, I’m left feeling very much like a single parent.”
He works two jobs to support his family, goes directly from one to the other, probably has no time for himself, and she is whining?
This is one self-centered angry woman.

Patients are striking back at doctors via Google

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