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Posted By Beau7890 5 months, 1 week ago in NewsIn the past five years more than 40 Web sites, among them RateMDs.com, Angie's List, Yelp, DrScore and Vitals.com (motto: "where doctors are examined"), have begun reviewing physicians, providing information about one of the more difficult and important decisions consumers make routinely.
As these sites proliferate -- a reflection of the hunger for information about doctors in an era where patients are expected to make sophisticated decisions about their care -- questions about their usefulness, accuracy and fairness are intensifying. In some cases the freewheeling anonymity of the Internet has collided with the rights of physicians who are constrained by laws that protect patient privacy.
As a defensive measure, some physicians are requiring patients to sign broad agreements that prohibit online postings or commentary in any media outlet "without prior written consent."
Critics call the documents gag orders. Many experts say they are both unethical and unenforceable.
Read Full Story at washingtonpost.com »
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Beau7890
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Spadecaller5 months, 1 week ago
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FTA: "some physicians are requiring patients to sign broad agreements that prohibit online postings or commentary in any media outlet 'without prior written consent.'"
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Those doctors must be vulnerable for two reasons; the first obviously is that they are paranoid about the poor results many of their procedures yield, and the second - bad press could virtually shut down their practice.
My experience supports this approach as a benefit to doctors. Commentaries from patients who received outstanding care would boost the physician's practice. Doctors with exemplary track records of success in treating patients would have no reason to want to censor online medical reviews.-
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Beau78905 months, 1 week ago
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I can understand doctors being concerned about false reports of poor treatment. But every other business deals with the same issues; why should doctors--providing a service that arguably merits more careful choice by patients than others--be treated differently? And how would a ban on reviews even be enforced? Anyone can post anonymously on the Internet.
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moxxxxxxxxxx5 months, 1 week ago
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The issue is patient confidentiality. Doctors and other health providers must protect the confidentiality of their patients. They cannot respond to the remarks people make about them because they would be violating the priivacy of the patient. If people want to expose themselves by telling information about their relationship with their doctor they are free to do it but the doctor cannot respond to any comments and/or allegations. How responsible is a website that allows comments about an individual and that person cannot respond to defend themselves? People who have problems with their doctors should be talking directly to the doctor to solve the problem not going on websites to make allegations knowing the doctor cannot respond to defend himself/herself. The relationship between you and your doctor is quite different than the relationship with your mechanic.
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moxxxxxxxxxx5 months, 1 week ago
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Check out some of the websites mentioned in the article. You will notice the doctors with the most patient's comments are psychiatrist and OB/GYNs. What does that tell you about the people commenting on these sites? They are people with mental health problems and women. How's that for reliability?
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Beau78905 months, 1 week ago
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No one ever says information on websites that review any business is reliable. Anyone with any sense knows to take unverified internet reviews of any business with a grain of salt. But without websites publishing reviews, where can anyone get information about the quality of medical services? Such decisions are made blindly, and they're much more crucial to your well-being than any other buying decision I can think of.
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Additionally, the opportunity already exists for people to bad-mouth medical providers--the doctors can do nothing about verbal reviews given by people given in person. The internet just makes it possible for more people to see them. -
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Candida5 months, 1 week ago
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moxxxxxxxxxx: "most patient's comments are psychiatrist and OB/GYNs. What does that tell you about the people commenting on these sites? They are people with mental health problems and women. How's that for reliability?"
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How is this for male chauvinism?
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