"Doctors putting clauses in the forms that you sign saying you won't publish bad reviews on blogs, review sites, etc."

From The Chicago Tribune:

@ColonelTribune Doctors seek gag orders on patients' online reviews to prevent negative comments http://tr.im/h0oZ , and more doctors are... from web

@ColonelTribune... putting clauses in the doctor's forms that you sign saying you won't publish bad reviews on blogs, review sites, etc. from web

"Some doctors have started fighting back against ugly Internet reviews by asking patients to abide by what are effectively gag orders that bar them from posting negative comments online.

Here's a real, anonymous comment about a doctor from the Web site RateMDs.com:

"Very unhelpful, arrogant, did not listen and cut me off, seemed much too happy to have power [and abuse it!] over suffering people."

Segal said such postings say nothing about what should really matter to patients — a doctor's medical skills — and privacy laws and medical ethics prevent doctors from fighting back."

References:

Doctor try legal restraints on patients to prevent online criticism. Lindsey Tanner |Associated Press.
Analysis of 4,999 Online Physician Ratings: most patients gave positive reviews (2011 study) http://goo.gl/LgG5L - It begs the question: couldn't researchers add 1 more for a round number 5,000?
Rate Your M.D. on, well... RateMDs.com
Zagat "eat-and-tell restaurant guide" turns focus to medicine and physician reviews
Googling Ourselves — What Physicians Can Learn from Online Rating Sites. NEJM, 2010.
Image source: RateMDs.com.
Image source: picturestation.net, free license.

1 comment:

  1. Hi Ves:
    Great post. That physician didn't get what most patients think makes a doctor a good doctor - a doctor that listens (unpublished data).
    Best,

    www.twitter.com/joemd

    ReplyDelete