Legal threats to my site

mjewel,

Now he is demanding I remove his name and all the reviews associated with his name. (I have already removed the comments, he wants the numerical ratings gone as well.)

Curious as to what you think about this. Would numerical ratings be considered anything but opinion?

Here's a choice excerpt in which he compares my site to the attack of 9/11

Also he says :

Apparently, I am also on par with people who supply terrorists with ammunition.

I guess wal-mart gets sued every time someone stabs someone with a wal-mart knife.

Honestly, this is just pissing me off now, I complied with what he wanted, and he continues to be rude, and just be a total asshole. At this point, I'm entirely sick of his bullshit.

 

Now he sounds like the jerk for sure. At first I thought he had some grounds to complain, but probably not, he probably is a bad doctor.

 

debunked,

Well, I don't wanna screw anyone over. But from my own experience, a doctor can have can be well-known and seem nice, until he screws up a surgery and leaves you in pain. And it's like it never happened, they won't see you, you can't find another surgeon coz no one wants to be the last hands on the screwed up hot potato.

And the doctor will come down on you exactly like this if you complain, I've experienced it first hand, although usually he has his office staff do it instead.

Now, this guy could be a good doctor, and I don't want to take away from that, which is part of the reason I dumped the comments, even though I think they are valuable.

But dumping the rest is too much. In my case, I couldn't sue, you have to prove "gross negligence" not just that the surgery failed and the doctor treated you like crap and ignored you, and after you drove an hour cancelled an appt on you. You can't sue for that, and a complaint with the medical board does very little good, so you really have no recourse except word of mouth. So, I think the deck is well stacked in doctor's favor in these situations, so I'm inclined to lean towards the side of the patient, but not while messing up a good doctor's reputation. But the guy has several bad reviews from vastly different IP blocks.

I know this doesn't mean it's not the same person, but this combined with his attitude lets me know that this guy can never be wrong. He would never admit a mistake and try to silence anyone who disagreed, he has that complex in which he is the ultimate authority and everyone else is a moron.... ugh.

 

I personally don't think the guy has a leg to stand to, legally. A rating system seems to clearly be an opinion- and doesn't get into specific claims. I don't believe he would be able to prove damages- which is required in a normal libel case. It's not enough to prove it wasn't true, you have to prove you suffered damages. How do you prove an "opinion" isn't true? You really can't.

I wouldn't remove it, but you there are people who are willing to spend $25,000 to make you lose $5,000. I think a good attorney would tell him to forget it, a greedy attorney might take his money. I think you said you had a disclaimer that states the ratings are not the opinion of the site. I think 99% of people wouldn't do anything if you don't remove it. Whether or not this guy is the 1% is anyones guess.

I would either ignore his email or tell the guy you will remove the rating if he obtains a court order instructing you to do so, otherwise it will remain up and you do not wish to receive have further contact from him. I have never seen banter back and forth between this type of individual to every solve anything- it only serves to provoke him. But that's what I would do, and it's your money - so it's really up to you.

 

I'll try not to provoke him, but man.. posting his emails (without identification) is so satisfying. =) And he has seriously pissed me off now, I am a reasonable person, and had he simply sent an email saying the comments were untrue, I would have said sorry, and figured something out. But he came at me with threats upon threats, I comply, and he still threatens.

I'll add some disclaimers as well, just to double make sure.

Thank you again!!!

 

He has threatened you as well, whether he likes it or not, "I can assure you that it is within my personal technical and legal
>capability to identify you quickly and put your name and your photograph
>and address and telephone number for all the world to see on my own web
>site."

Correct me if I am wrong, but that is grounds for a counter suit...

 

I don't think that's illegal though. But I could be wrong... heh.

 

I wouldn't sue based on that. It certainly isn't criminal, and besides not be able to use small claims court, you would have to prove you were damaged in some way to collect any money. It's pretty hard to claim damages in a private email - and any damages would be for something like emotional distress- and the burden of proof would be yours.

 

Since comments are gone, I figure this is a one time thing. And I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. I removed his reviews and his comments.

But from now on, I'm following your advice mjewel, I'm looking for an attorney right now to review the site. But from now on... no communication unless I am presented with a court order. No free form comments, to keep them to opinions only. Several new disclaimers on the site, and when they submit a review.

Hopefully this will be effective in the future.

Thanks a lot for your help, it's been invaluable.

 

After reading the entire thread of posts, I've yet to see anyone ask

"are you certain the emailer is actually the same person?"

 

Yeh it is a bit of a buggar when a thread in DP outranks your website hehe

 

You are smart for this!!!!

Registrant:
Domains by Proxy, Inc.

DomainsByProxy.com
15511 N. Hayden Rd., Ste 160, PMB 353
Scottsdale, Arizona 85260
United States

Registered through: GoDaddy.com (http://www.godaddy.com)
Domain Name: NDDB.NET
Created on: 17-Aug-04
Expires on: 17-Aug-07
Last Updated on: 09-May-05

Administrative Contact:
Private, Registration
Domains by Proxy, Inc.
DomainsByProxy.com
15511 N. Hayden Rd., Ste 160, PMB 353
Scottsdale, Arizona 85260
United States
(480) 624-2599
Technical Contact:
Private, Registration
Domains by Proxy, Inc.
DomainsByProxy.com
15511 N. Hayden Rd., Ste 160, PMB 353
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Domain servers in listed order:
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NS2.AMNINC.NET


Registry Status: REGISTRAR-LOCK

Your server is in San Antonio.
He will just call his lawyer, do a cease, and desist letter.
If godaddy or your host company won't give his lawyer your info, they will contact a judge to get it.
What kind of terms and legal policy is posted on your site?

This happens to a lot of sites.
They usually get scared and remove the posts that offend the person complaining.

Check with the medical boards and see what kind of complaints he has and any other complaints about him to other agencies.
Also check online using search engines.
People complained about him, so most likely they did it on other web sites.

You need to change this Acceptable Use Policy.
You need legal and terms or conditions, or terms and conditions.
Go copy a good one from another site and edit it.
And your site has no copyright info either.
Or tags on the pages for copyright in the code or at the bottom of the pages.

Well now we know you are in NC.
This part was smart!
(11) You agree that all legal disputes will be settled in Greenville County, South Carolina.
http://www.nddb.net/node/view/6

Also read your hosting policies.
He might contact your host company that you are in violation of their terms.

http://serverbeach.com/catalog/
Now look on the bottom of their page.

SEE:
Terms of Service Acceptable Use Policy Copyright Notice Privacy Policy About Us Testimonials Careers Contact Us
Copyright © 2002 ServerBeach : Discount Dedicated Servers Done Right.

You need to add this stuff!

http://www.serverbeach.com/catalog/aup.php?PHPSESSID=8a5efe8f665a2acb1fbe7b63905b5e92

Internet Etiquette

The customer is expected to be familiar with and to practice good Internet etiquette (Netiquette). The customer will comply with the rules appropriate to any network to which ServerBeach may provide access. The customer should not post, transmit, or permit Internet access to information the customer desires to keep confidential. The customer is not permitted to post any material that is illegal, libelous, tortuous, indecently depicts children or is likely to result in retaliation against ServerBeach by offended users. ServerBeach reserves the right to refuse or terminate service at any time for violation of this section. This includes advertising services or sites via IRC or USENET in clear violation of the policies of the IRC channel or USENET group.

Copyright Infringement - Software Piracy Policy

The ServerBeach network may only be used for lawful purposes. Transmission, distribution, or storage of any information, data or material in violation of United States or state regulation or law, or by the common law, is prohibited. This includes, but is not limited to, material protected by copyright, trademark, trade secret, or other intellectual property rights. Making unauthorized copies of software is a violation of the law, no matter how many copies you are making. If you copy, distribute or install the software in ways that the license does not allow, you are violating federal copyright law. If caught with pirated software, you or your company may be liable under both civil and criminal law, and you may be fined up to $250,000 and/or receive up to 5 years in jail. In compliance with the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (the "DMCA"), please send DMCA notifications of claimed copyright infringements to . ServerBeach will cooperate fully with any civil and/or criminal litigation arising from the violation of this policy.

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All services may be used for lawful purposes only. Transmission, storage, or presentation of any information, data or material in violation of any applicable law, regulation, or AUP is prohibited. This includes, but is not limited to:

copyrighted material or
material protected by trade secret and other statute or
dissemination of harmful or fradulent content.

Using any ServerBeach service or product for the purpose of participating in any activity dealing with subject matters that are prohibited under applicable law is prohibited.

Any conduct that constitutes harassment, fraud, stalking, abuse, or a violation of federal export restriction in connection with use of ServerBeach services or products is prohibited. Using the ServerBeach network to solicit the performance of any illegal activity is also prohibited, even if the activity itself is not performed. In addition, knowingly receiving or downloading a file that cannot be legally distributed, even without the act of distribution, is prohibited.

Servers hosted within ServerBeach network are open to the public. You are solely responsible for your usage of the ServerBeach network and servers and any statement you make on servers hosted within the ServerBeach network may be deemed "publication" of the information entered. Acknowledging the foregoing, you specifically agree not to use our service in any manner that is illegal or libelous.

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ServerBeach reserves the right to suspend network access to any customer if, in the judgment of the ServerBeach network administrators, the customer's server is the source or target of the violation of any of the other terms of the AUPs or for any other reason which ServerBeach chooses. If inappropriate activity is detected, all accounts of the Customer in question will be deactivated until an investigation is complete. Prior notification to the Customer is not assured. In extreme cases, law enforcement will be contacting regarding the activity. The customer will not be credited for the time the customer's machines were suspended. The Customer will be credited on a prorated basis based on the monthly fees the Customer pays for the servers that are suspended for the time the Customer's machines were suspended.

Cancellation

ServerBeach reserves the right to cancel service at any time. If inappropriate activity is detected, all accounts of the customer in question will be deactivated until an investigation is complete. Prior notification to the Customer is not assured. In extreme cases, law enforcement will be contacting regarding the activity. All fees paid in advance of cancellation are non-refundable if ServerBeach institutes its right of cancellation. Any violation of policies which results in extra costs will be billed to the customer (i.e. transfer, space etc.).

Indemnification

ServerBeach wishes to emphasize that in signing the Master Services Agreement or its equivalent, customer indemnifies ServerBeach for any violation of the Master Services Agreement or its equivalent, law or AUP that results in loss to ServerBeach or the bringing of any claim against ServerBeach by any third-party. This means that if ServerBeach is sued because of a customer's or a customer of a customer's activity, the customer will pay any damages awarded against ServerBeach, plus costs and reasonable attorney's fees.

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All Sub-Networks, resellers and managed servers of ServerBeach must adhere to the above policies. Failure to follow any term or condition will be grounds for immediate Cancellation.

INDIRECT OR ATTEMPTED VIOLATIONS OF THE AUPs AND ACTUAL OR ATTEMPTED VIOLATIONS BY A THIRD PARTY ON YOUR BEHALF, SHALL BE CONSIDERED VIOLATIONS OF THESE AUPs BY YOU.

When you read all this, this is why people take down the offending reviews, they don't want or need it to affect their livelihood.

Hope this helps.
Get on to adding more legal, terms and acceptable use policies on your site.
And don't forget copyright and disclaimer info.

Oh yah i almost forgot, he might start emailing or contacting your sponsors to, to pull their sponsorship.

I am not picking on you just letting you know the ins and outs.
Here is a cool link http://www.statelocalgov.net
This also shows all the cities / towns/ villages per state.
You might want to add them to your list of locations.

 

gatordun,

Damn, thanks =) The server should be in VA, I thought domainsbyproxy might not be rock solid, but deter the insane.

I will work on a TOS, I know a good one to snatch parts from. =)

It's ok if he emails my sponsors, it wouldn't really bother me a bit. I doubt SB would do anything, since there are no libelous statements on the site, and none that be construed as libelous now.

----

Thanks Shawn, that site about the debt collectors is hilarious, well, it's not hilarious to have to waste all that time on them, but funny that they lost and are so incredibly stupid.

 

NDDB - I quoted this from the second email. You would be astonished at how true the second part of this statement really is. People will 'diagnose' themselves reading the internet, tell their doctor that x, y & z is wrong with them and expect their doctor to treat them based on the patient's own diagnosis.

When that doesn't happen, they fly into a rage thinking they are being maltreated or ignored by the doctor. It's very common, normal almost, and so is looking for a place to let loose with their rage to 'get even'.

Then there are the psychotic patients ...

Taking the point of view of the doctor who has written to you, I'm not really surprised he was a bit pissed in his email. I personally thought he showed great restraint. His reputation has taken him a lifetime of hard work to build. He isn't going to let it slide when someone, opinion or not, tries to damage that reputation.

He's cutting you some slack by chalking this up to inexperience. I suggest you take advantage of this to review just what opinions are expressed on your site.

This may be the first doctor to actually come across something but you can be 100% assured that every doctor mentioned on your site will soon be studying what has been said about them.

You could be tied up in legal battles for the rest of your life unless you are yourself, 100% legally in the right.

Take care.

 

gatordun,

Alright, check it out now. =)

 

mcfox,

And? Sometimes they aren't wrong. I had been diagnosed with a hernia, so I finally get insurance, so I go to see a local doctor to get him to re-examine and refer me to a surgeon. You know what he does? Asks me if I had sex with any prostitutes, I say no... I have a hernia. He ignores me and gives doxycycline, an antibiotic used to treat chlamydia and a couple other STDs. I threw the script in the trash on the way out of the office. I guess if I disagree I'm just a weirdo freak (possibly psychotic) who is diagnosing himself?

I actually did have a hernia, had to see a different doc to get it diagnosed properly.

I know far more about my illnesses than any doctor I've seen does. Because I've talked to researches at UCLA and UNC, and read all the papers off medline, and emailed professors. I start saying serotonin antagonist, and they act like they have no clue. They need to keep up on research because sometimes their knowledge of diseases they allegedly specialize in, is pathetic.

-----

It goes both ways, people are people, and there are some REALLY bad doctors out there. And there are some really bad patients... no doubt, but do you think the majority of people are insane? Don't you think that as time progresses a more average view will come out of the ratings?

Sure, one person might stop by and drop a low opinion... you and I don't know what the case is, maybe the person was legitimately treated badly, it would not surprise me in the slightest. I've been to see many, many doctors, probably getting near 30 or more in the last 3-4 years, and very few of them ever treated me well. There have been about 2 that listened, and took me seriously, and sincerely helped me. But I had to go through years of crap to find them.

You can easily spend hundreds of dollars seeing doctors and have them basically spit in your face. I had one just walk out of the room on me, while I was talking to him. And that is pretty minor compared to some of the other things. Such as, refusing to even return a phone call even after I called like 2 weeks and cancelling appointments on me when I had staples ripping up my insides so much I couldn't stand up straight or walk correctly. They removed many of them, during a second surgery, and then I had to go back for a third because the first two failed and left me in immense pain. (If anyone doubts this, I've got some high-res pics from the laparoscopic cam, if you wanna see my insides being pulled on by little titanium screws. heh.)

And I talked to a lawyer, but there was not "gross negligence" just a crappy surgery technique (significantly higher failure rate, which no one happened to mention to me until I got a second opinion) that left me in debilitating pain and agony while I was totally ignored and then told by office staff "go on disability so you can pay your surgery bill, then we'll try to figure out what went wrong." and "The doctor isn't available right now, we'll be sure to have him call you back by 5pm." <-- happened about 14 days in a row, as pain steadily got worse.

I had another doctor call my mother and tell her I was an addict because I asked for a tylenol #3, slight amount of codeine, which I had taken off and on for a year before that, and never had any addiction to it whatsoever. But he felt like he needed to violate my HIPAA rights and try to get me in trouble with my parents... heh... I'm well over the 18-20 range, didn't even live with my parents. He just decided to tattle because I told him codeine was the only medicine I had found that helped me. (now I have some non-narcotic stuff that's good.. so it's cool, but it was more than frustrating at the time, plus the guy charged me about ~$160, for him to call me an addict and lecture me for 20 minutes and call my mother... lol).

Now, that may be a "weird axe to grind" as my lawsuit friend here calls it, I call it pragmatism. You should go to the doctor who isn't an asshole first, not last. Save yourself some time, money and frustration.

When you are sick, and broke, and you need a good doctor, that is not the time to spend $500 shopping for the doctor with the least attitude. In my opinion, doctors who waste your time and money need to be boycotted. It's capitalism, it's democracy, it's freedom. Of course, why would they want it that way?

I know I am not psychotic, or insane, or prone to rages, and I know how I have been treated, and I doubt I am the only one... by far. But there is so much doctors can do that will totally screw up your life that falls below the threshold of "malpractice."

But, I think he could have approached the situation better. Personally, I think he is a bit "off" as well, considering the things he said (nothing like being compared to terrorists who killed 3000 American citizens). If he hadn't threatened me repeatedly, even in the second email, I probably would have just looked into it and removed the stuff immediately. I'll see what happens when I find a good lawyer around here.

But, If he is that arrogant and condescending in person, it's no wonder his patients don't like him.

He's also listed on ratemds. Heh... someone doesn't like him there either.

 

Lest I forget the time I had a kidney stone shockwaved, it got stuck in ureter, so they have to actually go in and remove it. Anyway, I'm laying on the table, got the mask on, they tell me to count back from 100, I hear them talking about a stent, and im like... "whooa.. no one said anything about a stent before now" so the nurse says to me "Well, I guess you should have read the papers you just signed then!" ... the last thing I hear before I go under.

I remember fighting someone when I was waking up, but I was so out of it that I couldn't, and still can't, recall what happened. They wouldn't tell me what happened, but there was a nurse at my feet and she was staying well out of arms reach. That's just not the kind of thing you should say to a person when they go under, especially when they wake up with a piece of cardboard attached to what amounts to two pieces of fishing line going up their urethra into a ureter (~3ft of wires) which you plan to yank out 3 days later.

----

Obviously, I could be biased, but I don't enter the reviews, or change them. People just come and enter them, I think it's likely they've had experiences like mine.

 

I didn't say that doctors were right all of the time, didn't make mistakes, nor that there aren't lots of a**holes. I'm all too familiar with the doctor treadmill. It isn't the point. The point is that you might just find yourself in a quagmire of litigation if you are not very, very careful.

Case in point:

From what you have written, I could hazard a guess that the hernia you had was an inguinal hernia, right? How do I know? Because the doctor prescribed antibiotics for Chlamydia.

The doctor has a choice to make. Take your word for it that it is a hernia or make his own judgment call that you may have the beginnings of Epididymitis caused by Chlamydia, the fifth most reported infectious disease in the US, of which you are in the primary age group for infection.

Chlamydial infection can be quickly cured by antibiotics but leaving it untreated can lead to sterility among other things, as well as the possibility of spreading the disease to others.

Chlamydia is often accompanied by gonorrhea. Having Chlamydia increases the risk of picking up another std by about a factor of 10.

Prostitutes? Using the services of a prostitute is sadly, not uncommon. Best way to assess the risk of your possibly having gonorrhea is simply to ask if you have been exposed to the high risk population and gauge your reaction. The choice of antibiotic will rest with whether it is to treat just Chlamydia or whether there may be more than one disease.

Now you might not have been happy that the doctor didn't immediately follow your own diagnosis of hernia but he was doing his job by treating you for the possibility that your symptoms might have been caused by a highly infectious disease common in your age group, the symptoms of which can mirror an inguinal hernia.

Nddb -- you are obviously angry at the way you've been treated by certain doctors but it doesn't make it right to open up a forum to rip apart the reputations of doctors who were only doing their job.

If you let your anger cloud your judgement, you are going to run into a sh*t-load of legal troubles.

Sure there are butthole doctors, and I know what you are getting at when you want to bring attention to the crappy doctors. I agree more needs to be done to make certain that it's the best treatment a patient receives from the best doctor.

However, this post is about the legal stuff regarding the website not the moralities and efficacy of doctors. As I pointed out above, what you or any other patient perceives as bad treatment may just be a lack of awareness on the part of the patient, not a crappy doctor.

 

Y'all can request someone to be in the operating room!
And you can even film any procedure with the hospitals / doctors consent.
If they don't give consent go to another hospital / doctor.

My cat was spayed and the Doc left her stomach open, i did not notice until the morning after i picked her up late that night, they had her in her carry kennel and said leave her in there until morning.
I did and her stomach was open when i let her out.
Talk about speeding to the vet clinic, I was doing 80 on the freeway – thought her guts would fall out.
I should of thought about him when i saw him staggering in the parking lot - like he was hung over.
And the clinic receptionist saw this too, and would not say anything to the vet board or her higher ups - fearing for her job.
The vet board and his nonprofit that he worked for did nothing except try to cover it up.

Think all doctors should take at least 2 drug and alcohol tests each month, any day the test takers see fit and just show up.

nddb I posted you more terms and stuff to add, and it asked me for user and log in name and etc, i emailed admin to see if they could salvage and post if for you.

Sorry post it for you.
Really it should of not of given me an error.
If he can't i'll try posting it again another time.
Really that was a lot of work to do and it not post, i guess next time use word and type it in there before adding it here.