For all the talk about the “crisis” of patients suing doctors, you’ll be pleased to know that some doctors are getting in on the litigation game as well.
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.
The article is a little thin on the scope of this phenomenon. It points to literally only three examples of physicians going to court over negative online comments — the Texas ophthalmologist, a dentist in Florida, and a hair transplant provider in Beverly Hills — which suggests the suits are not exactly the start of a national trend.
Nevertheless, could this be a new twist on the broader fight over medical litigation? For all the efforts doctors and the AMA put behind curbing “frivolous” lawsuits, would the drive to sue patients prompt the medical community to take a second look at the issue?
Probably not, but I thought it was funny anyway.