Docs seek gag orders to stop patients' reviews

[Tab]

Source: AP

CHICAGO – The anonymous comment on the Web site RateMDs.com was unsparing: "Very unhelpful, arrogant," it said of a doctor. "Did not listen and cut me off, seemed much too happy to have power (and abuse it!) over suffering people." Such reviews are becoming more common as consumer ratings services like Zagat's and Angie's List expand beyond restaurants and plumbers to medical care, and some doctors are fighting back.

They're asking patients to agree to what amounts to a gag order that bars them from posting negative comments online.

"Consumers and patients are hungry for good information" about doctors, but Internet reviews provide just the opposite, contends Dr. Jeffrey Segal, a North Carolina neurosurgeon who has made a business of helping doctors monitor and prevent online criticism.

Some sites "are little more than tabloid journalism without much interest in constructively improving practices," and their sniping comments can unfairly ruin a doctor's reputation, Segal said.

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 leave doctors powerless to do anything it.

His company, Medical Justice, is based in Greensboro, N.C. For a fee, it provides doctors with a standardized waiver agreement. Patients who sign agree not to post online comments about the doctor, "his expertise and/or treatment."

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090304/ap_on_he_me/med_gagging_patients

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No. No. No.

Even "Car Talk" on NPR has a "mechanics file" where you can read how people evaluate a local mechanic.

This isn't car repair. This is your frickin' life and/or health in most cases.

If you read these reviews, you must do so understanding that someone must have an ax to grind, but if someone collects a ton of similar reviews you ought to start thinking that something's up.

I've generally had good doctors, but I'm not afraid to say so if I think a doctor sucks. I had one that wouldn't investigate a complaint I had. I was also tired of the extended wait times in his office. I finally moved to another doctor. Since then, he has lost his license (not over me), closed his practice, and checked into rehab.

If I had known about his performance ahead of time, I wouldn't have even gone there in the first place.

It's like our cars get better treatment than our own personal bodies & health.

So I say no. Reviews are entirely a legit thing. If 99 speak highly, and 1 speaks poor, you listen to the 99. If 1 speaks highly and 99 speaks poor, you better listen, and that's not the posters fault, at that point it's the doctor's for the care they're giving.

Patients are generally respectful, so if you're screwing up, you'd need to do it on a regular basis to get the majority to write you a bad review. And since it's our health on the line, you'll deserve it if you got a bad one from nearly all of your patients.

Don't tell me my health is more precious than my car's.

[No Elephants]

1. I agree. Don't sign one of these.

[saigon68]

21. Those Fuckers need to sued continuously

But thanks to the Chimp and his hand maiden Tom Delay its hard to do.

[Why Syzygy]

2. This stunt

just proves even more so how arrogant they are, as in above reproach. How can their medical skills be any good if they don't LISTEN? No, they must not be exempt from consumer feedback.

[Mojorabbit]

12. It is a neurosurgeon.

par for the course.

[quidam56]

3. We need a cure for health care in America

See what is deemed, defended and supported as acceptable standards of health care in East Tennessee and Southwest, Virginia where profit care comes ahead of patient care... http://www.wisecountyissues.com

[GinaMaria]

4. What we also need are facts, data etc about their outcomes

rates of infection post surgery, etc. This would help me make a better decision. I will put up with an asshole if he or she can produce great results.

[Mojorabbit]

13. That would not necessarily

paint a true picture. If the physician takes low income people that have a history of little preventative care and only sees the doc when they are at death's door the outcomes would be poorer than one who sees people who have regular medical checkups and have things caught early. It might give one a clue but may not be totally an accurate picture.

[GinaMaria]

14. Insurance companies already have this info

There has been discussion for years about sharing this with the public. They've done the math. Bad care is more expensive and they would like their card holders to go to docs who have great results. It is based soley on their members and contracted healthcare providers. Those who are not insured or underinsured will not have much impact on this data. The data would be specific to each insurance carrier/company.

so potentially when you have XYZ insurance, you could go to their website not only to find an in network care provider, but also get other information about performance etc.

[JJ]

31. LOL

"they would like their card holders to go to docs who have great results"

Good one.

Now the reality is they want their card holders to go to the docs who agree to the lowest payments.

Short term profits over all, and cheap doctors are more profitable on next quarter's balance sheet, and better for the short term stock price than good doctors.

[Tracer]

5. These reviews need to be taken with a grain of salt.

Most of the posts on RateMDs contain exactly ONE review. And if it's a negative, then either the person had a genuinely bad experience or they are a chronic complainer.

What can you tell about a physician from ONE review?

[Dappleganger]

16. Totally agree.

Remember that people with a complaint will be the ones doing a review, while most satisfied customers see no need to review at all.

In regards to other review sites, many of them are in the habit of pulling negative reviews--namely Amazon and Angie's List are known for this. Angie's list featured businesses pay a fee to be on the List and therefore it's in AL's best interests to remove negative reviews.

[Ms. Toad]

22. I've posted two -

One positive, and one negative. I'm contemplating posting one more negative one, one mixed, and 4 more positive.

I've had a hard time finding good primary care physicians, and would love to have had some information about them rather than randomly pulling a name out of the authorized physician book so I'm trying to share the kind of information I would like to have.

[Lorien]

23. But Angie's list usually has quite a few for each

more traffic I guess. I'll admit, most of the physicians I've seen down here in Florida are horrible, but I did finally find a great GP and dentist. They are already overwhelmed with patients so I haven't posted reviews online for them yet. I'm afraid that I'd never get to see them again!

One thing that's awful about this area is the fundie OB/Gyns. When they've asked if I'm sexually active and I say "yes" they check my marital status and then start asking me about my relationship with Jesus. No joke. I haven't been to one now in eight years because I just don't want to go through any more sermons!

[PassingFair]

6. There's one I'D like to blast.

She was a horrible doctor, had my
kids (both of them) in tears at
each visit.

I switched them from the pediatric
clinic over to my GP even though
she was only one of 8l doctors, because
my girls couldn't hack even the CHANCE
that they might get her.

There are a couple of docs I would sing
praises for, though...my GP included.

[Stuckinthebush]

7. It's very simple..

If an MD asks you to sign such a gag order then you politely say, "Thank you, have a nice day" and walk away. Any MD who feels a need to have one signed is an MD who knows she has problems.

A confident MD won't even go there.

[LiberalFighter]

8. And very stupid to believe patients can't rate doctors anonymously!

[depakid]

17. Actually it's really stupid to believe anonymous posts on the internet

without thinking that hmmm -maybe someone has an agenda.

I think most reasonable people support having patient feedback as part of health care decisionmaking- but the key to it is accuracy and the ability to figure out what people's beefs (or priase) really represent.

[Robb]

9. If your first stop is litigation, there's a problem with your plan, really.

Better plan would be to educate your patients. :shrug:

[msongs]

10. so it's cool with you if we all go to anonymous sites and post, "TAB is a child molestor"? nt

[blueraven95]

11. sorry, there is no correlation

a review of a doctor is just that, a review. Or in other words, a person's opinion about the service they received. Anyone reading should understand that.


Your statement, would be asserting a false claim (unless, of course, there was evidence to back it up) and would have you at risk for being arrested for libel.


Two completely different things.


edit to fix grammatical error.

[crimsonblue]

15. This is a bullshit idea

the reviews of doctors, that is. A person who may perceive bad care is much more likely to review the doctor than somebody that perceives the care as good. Doctors are not accountable to just their patients for the decisions they make; they are accountable to their practice (or hospital), and they are responsible to their state medical board. If you have a problem with the doctor, file a complaint with the HR person. I don't like any of these complaint sites (like Juicycampus, or ratemyprofessor) because the anonymity of the internet causes people to be more virulent and unjustifiably abrasive online.

[Tab]

18. "Doctors are not accountable to their patients" ??

Is that what you really meant to say?

[crimsonblue]

19. nope.

[bemildred]

20. Well, if the patient is not happy with the "health care provider", that's a fact.

And we all need to know the facts.

[union_maid]

24. Most anonymous internet reviews seem to be very negative

Whether it's apartments, products, services or whatever, there are just so many negative reviews that they cease to be useful. At least that's what I've found.

[JFKfanforever]

25. www.ratemds.com This is a very useful website!

[arikara]

26. I've used that site a several times

and have found it extremely helpful and accurate too. The Mr's old doctor who is without a doubt the worst ever is rated very low, with the same type of complaints we had with him... doesn't listen, snap diagnoses, rushes you out the door, wrong treatments, and tendency to blow his stack if questioned. Our new doc who we selected partially based upon the ratemd's site is highly rated, and all of the reviews are glowing. He is probably the best doctor we've ever seen and we were so lucky to find him.

My old doctor is somewhere in the middle of the two and her ratings also are reflective of what I found when dealing with her, acceptable, some good and some not so good.

From what I've seen with that site, people are as likely to write about the good as the bad and indifferent.

[JerseygirlCT]

27. I agree with you

This is just taking the word of mouth that already exists, and making it easier to access. Of course, you take "reviews" from people you don't know with a grain of salt. I imagine it's easy to see those who just like to complain. You sort of toss the extremes, and learn a good bit from the center.

But doctors have no right to be protected from opinions. Asking for that is a perfect example of the arrogance too many are often accused of exhibiting.

[davsand]

28. Demeanor really does overshadow knowledge sometimes.

I have to admit that an abrasive Doc can be good as far as diagnosis and knowledge. The problem is, that if they are abrasive as hell nobody wants to hear what they have to say.

Last year when my dad was in the hospital dying (one year ago, today, in fact) I fired a heart doc because he was so very rude to me and to my mother.

My father was laying there dying of congestive heart failure and two other heart docs had suggested a procedure that they felt would help him. This doc came in the room and announced that he intended to cancel the procedure. When we told him that we intended to continue with the procedure he screamed at us.

I invited him to leave the room and called my brother (a lawyer) to establish what we had to do to protect my father and my mother from further contact with that doc.

As it turned out, that doc was correct--my father died. He died, however, with every measure taken to try and help him--and THAT was important.

Do I think other people need to know about that doc and his behavior? Absolutely. I wouldn't take my pet to that asshole because he lacks a fundamental element to practice medicine--compassion.

YMMV, but I think any public info about docs is a help. Remember, unlike a mechanic or a plumber, you may not get a chance to fix whatever the docs screw up.


Laura

[hollowdweller]

29. If I can read and understand reviews on backpacks and albums

Online I can read ones by doctors and take any negative comments in context.

My wife was operated on twice by a doctor that messed up both times. On the second round he accidentally cut into her bladder and she had to wear a catheter for 3 weeks till it healed and she went into shock when he tried to remove it early.

We didn't sue him either time because people DO make mistakes, but it would have been nice to have seen if there was any other people who he messed up on and to be able to write about our experience with him.

Also had a buddy who was severely diabetic and was having a bypass in his leg. The MD gave him a drug to control bleeding that caused a clot in his good leg and they had to take IT off.

Know of a heart surgeon who had tons of patients check out after he operated on them. The hospital fired him but he's practicing somewhere else now.

We hear a lot about so called Frivolous Lawsuits driving up the cost of health care but in my personal experience there's a HELL of a lot of mistakes by doctors and the patients don't do anything.

Sites like the ones mentioned might force doctors to actually look at how they are doing and cause them to make some changes in their practices.

[JJ]

30. People have choices in Doctors???

For many, many Americans, you have to go to the doctors that some insurance company says, if you can even find a doctor that will take a new patient.
I've been without a primary care doctor for nearly 5 years.

The Repukes whine that government will make decisions under socialised medicine, that would be an improvement over what happens now, with insurance companies overruling doctors, based solely on a profit motive.