Friday, July 9, 2010
Doctor sues patients for lousy online ratings
This post by Toni Brayer, FACP, appeared at Everything Health.
I must say I think Dr. Kimberly Henry, cosmetic surgeon, has made a big professional mistake. She has filed a lawsuit to stop online reviewers from badmouthing her on the Internet. She is seeking injunctions against at least 12 reviewers from sites such as Yelp.com and DoctorScorecard.com. Dr. Henry claims libel and defamation, invasion of privacy and interference with prospective economic advantage and is seeking $1 million in general damages and $1 million in special damages, etc., etc., etc.
Now I don't know Dr. Henry, nor do I know of her plastic surgery technique. I don't know who the disgruntled patients are or if they are unfairly targeting her. What I do know is that the Internet is here to stay and there is no place to hide if you do not provide excellent customer service. I was curious and checked DoctorScorecard.com and there is a brand new complaint placed today, so I don't think this publicity is helping her. It will bring more angry patients out to comment, I'm afraid.
A similar case was filed last year by a dentist in San Francisco, Gelareh Rahbar, who filed a case against a patient who wrote a negative review on Yelp.com. The case was thrown out by the judge and Rahbar was ordered to pay $43,000 for the patient's legal fees. Anti-SLAPP (strategic lawsuits against public participation) laws provide some protection for online commentators as a preservation of free speech.
I wrote about medical rating sites back in 2007 and in 2008 and those posts have proven to be correct. (Reading my old posts is rather interesting and I agree with myself all over again!)
I know some physicians feel it is unfair that angry patients can say whatever they want and there is no rebuttal. But if a surgeon has that many disgruntled patients who would take the time to comment, there might just be a problem. And let's face it, those sites are anonymous and I know of doctors who post their own "good" ratings. It swings both ways.
I feel sorry for Dr. Kimberly Henry because no one likes criticism and public critique is especially hard to swallow. But bringing it even more public with a lawsuit (that may be hard to win!) is just throwing oil on the fire. Better to spend that time and effort satisfying patients and asking them to post great comments to counteract the bad.
Toni Brayer, FACP
Toni Brayer, FACP, is an ACP Internist editorial board member who blogs at EverythingHealth, designed to address the rapid changes in science, medicine, health and healing in the 21st Century.
Labels: malpractice, online reviews, patient communication, practice management, social networking, Toni Brayer, web sites
posted by Toni Brayer, MD at
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10 Comments:
I agree that this dentist may come out looking very bad.
This dentist's best defense is to be extremely good at her work. The second best defense is to build up plenty of positive comments from happy patients.
One bad comment could be someone out to sabotage a dentist - possibly a competing business. Multiple bad comments looks very suspicious.
Joe Bulger DDS
Dental Blog - Toronto Etobicoke Dentist
That is a truly outrageous story! Imagine an internet with no negative feedback, no poor reviews and no horror stories. It wouldn't be worth looking at.
It has always been the way that a satisfied customer will tell one person, but an unhappy customer will relate their bad experiences to ten of their acquaintances. The internet just makes it more important than ever to ensure customer satisfaction. But trying to sue negative reviewers? I'm glad it was thrown out of court...
Some patients don't even know what they are complaining about but suing is not a good approach. How is she going to get any new patients?
If you're not guilty I don't think you need to file a lawsuit against these people. If you know you are providing great service to your patients, then there's no need to worry since you know you have loyal customers and a personal testimony would clearly make a big difference. But that is definitely not the case, and with the lawsuit, things were just getting worse.
Son of patient complains. Duluth doctor sues.
http://www.DuluthNewsTribune.com
Mark Stodghill, 06/12/2010
A Duluth physician is suing the son of a former patient for publicly criticizing his bedside manner. Dr. David McKee, a neurologist with Northland Neurology and Myology, filed the lawsuit, which was made public Friday, in St. Louis County District Court. McKee alleges that Dennis Laurion of Duluth defamed him and interfered with his business by making false statements to various third parties, including the American Academy of Neurology, the American Neurological Association, two physicians in Duluth, the St. Louis County Public Health and Human Services Advisory Committee and St. Luke hospital, among others.
Laurion claims that any statements he made about the doctor were true and that he is immune from any liability to the plaintiff. He referred questions to his Duluth attorney, John Kelly.
McKee is asking for more than $50,000 in damages. The doctor was paged Friday but did not return a call seeking comment. He is being represented by Minneapolis attorney Marshall Tanick, who in a phone interview alleged that Laurion defamed his client in several ways, including posting negative reviews of McKee on various websites. The basis for the lawsuit is the defamatory statements that were made on websites and to other sources, Tanick said. However, by no means does Dr. McKee want to in any way prevent or affect any kind of communications that may be made to the Board of Medical Practice or any other regulatory agencies. The purpose of the lawsuit is to prevent defamation being made on the websites and through other sources.
Kenneth Laurion, 85, a Navy combat medic in the Solomon Islands during World War II, suffered a hemorrhagic stroke and spent four days at St. Luke hospital from April 17-21. He recovered from his condition.
McKee also alleges that the defendant made false statements about him to others including: McKee seemed upset’ that Kenneth Laurion had been transferred from the Intensive Care Unit to a ward room. McKee told the Laurions that he had to spend time finding out if [the patient] had been transferred or died. McKee told the Laurions that 44 percent of hemorrhagic stroke victims die within 30 days. McKee told the patient that he did nott need therapy. McKee said that it didn’t matter that the patient gown was hanging from his neck with his backside exposed. McKee blamed the patient for the loss of his time. McKee didn’t treat his patient with dignity.
Defense attorney Kelly said it was a tense and emotional situation for the Laurion family. They were worried about Dad and the doctor comes along and, from their point of view, of what they saw and what they heard, they felt that the doctor didn’t act appropriately toward the father, Kelly said. So, among other things, they saw fit to report it to the hospital and to the Board of Medical Practice, which they have every right to do under the patient Bill of Rights, and they get sued.
Kelly said his client did post ratings of McKee on some websites but said he asked to have them removed, and they were. The defense attorney thinks that the lawsuit is without merit. I think it is an unfortunate incident of someone attempting to punish a person who has spoken out of concern for a family member, Kelly said.
I guess when someone says bad things that are potentially untrue we all get a bit angry... especially if they are online. However I completely agree with the comments that that the Internet is all about freedom of speech and we should not restrict these comments let alone support them in the court of law unless there is some legal case for them.
You know for every complaint you get there are on average 20 other people who didn't bother to make any complaint so it is really important in the health industries and in any business to deal constructive with all complaints because normally it is down to a lack of communication. Maybe if instead of an aggressive response the incident was defused there would not be a problem anymore.
Here are two links about a doctor suing over bedside manner complaints:
http://www.aaronkellylaw.com/Internet-Law-and-Intellectual-Property-Articles/The-WWII-Vet-vs-The-Doctor-A-Case-of-Internet-Defamation.shtml
http://www.superiortelegram.com/event/article/id/191109/publisher_ID/36/
The implications of these lawsuits (and the comments that prompted them) are worrying; there seems to be no easy answer beyond the curtailing of free speech or avenue for unchecked defamation. Although I will be following the cases with interest, I must agree with the commenters that focusing in on one's own practice and treating patients to the best of their ability. However, it is important to remember the rule of the "vocal minority;" those who make the most noise will get the most attention, even if they are only a small fraction of the overall populace.
New Jersey Plastic Surgeon Dr. Parker
http://www.parkercenter.net/
That's why we, dentist should have these standards in order not to upset our clients instead meet their expectations!
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