Welp, the bare facts of it are. Opinion is not libel. And I don't really consider getting a bad diagnosis, necessarily bad treatment, but you can feel an inguinal hernia with your finger, and several other doctors did, this guy did not even check, obviously, even though I told him that's what it was. (Hey, but im just the stupid patient who couldn't possibly know what's wrong with himself.) But I know when I've been treated badly, there are quite a few "rate your doctor" sites, and there are forums, etc etc where you can post your opinion of a doctor. But the question is... were they doing their job? Or did they do a half-assed job and take your money anyway? In my opinion, this is most likely the case. But like I said, users put in reviews... people have a right to know if a doctor will violate your rights, be rude, misdiagnose, or just be a waste of time and money BEFORE you drop $100+ just to see him. I hope no one ever has to waste all the time and money with doctors that I have had to, and have a simple hernia surgery, turn into three over the course of just 2 years. It's ridiculous, and yea... it pisses me off, but again, I don't put in reviews, I can just understand a person's deep frustration with being mistreated.
So can I, really. Been there, done that and wearing the t-shirt. However, at the end of the day, you the webmaster are responsible for the website. Without it, the opinions would not be on the internet in such a blunt and possibly libelous, manner. I don't know how many doctors there are who are getting slammed on your forums but imagine the scenario if three or four of them decided to individually tie you up in the courts. Can you afford the legal fees of defending yourself if this were to happen? They can. I'm confident that the doctors mentioned on your forums have been, or are in the process of being, notified about the opinions expressed. Whether the writings are libelous or not remains to be seen, I guess. Once again, I caution you to be vigilant and take all necessary steps to protect yourself from the possibility of legal action.
I'll take down any reviews, as mjewel said, with a court order. If the statements are illegal, which I don't think any of them are at this point, then they'll come down. Otherwise, they stay.
Your call but I just visited your site, looked up a random Beverly Hills plastic surgeon on the WebMD link thingy and ran through the motions of giving a bad review. All anonymously. I DID NOT complete the process. I also noticed the reviews do not give the number of people who completed a review, so it could just be one person in a bad mood and the doctor gets 10% rating. Anyway, like I said, your call.
it's easy to see how many people have given reviews, and what the % of their review was. They each get a section telling the date, the avg of their review, and the text of it. (it's a low # almost always, the site is fairly new, and it's high in serps). What's funny is, this same doctor who was complaining to me has at least one bad review at www . ratemds . com <-- how do they possibly stay open if what they do is so illegal?
I'm not saying what you are doing is illegal. All I am saying is that you need to take every precaution to ensure that you don't get mired in litigation from some oversight on your part with regard the libel laws. I would also strongly caution to be wary of the person who has an axe to grind. The doctor who wrote to you was actually quite informative about the sorts of things to which a doctor is routinely exposed, for example, the 'mad patient' scenario he outlined. Being prudent with the information and taking steps to protect yourself from future actions and decent doctors from malicious persons is, I believe, all that can be asked of you.
Thank you, I agree 100% with that. I don't want decent doctors attacked, but I'm stuggling to find a way to make it fair for both the patient and the doctor. And despite my tirades above, I don't hate doctors. A few of them have been so nice to me, it's amazing, and I love them for it. Which reminds me, I need to write a letter to the last one I saw, because he is one of the smartest and nicest people I have ever met. It's truly amazing how much he helped me. I just want to make people aware of doctors like that. But I agree, I need to take precautions, looking for a lawyer now. And I changed the site as well, the free-form text entry could lead to people being too harsh. I think the way it is currently is better, I think the "would you recommend this doctor" is what is important to people. Not a place to vent all their frustrations about all the things a doctor did wrong, but would you go back? That is what's important.
If he keeps contacting you and does not do anything or does not get a lawyer to contact you or does not pursue any legal action, they you can him file harassment charges. I guess the ADMIN did not recover anything. I’ll try posting more later when time permits. Your servers are in VA I read that on the beach hosting site. There offices are in Texas. But you need more on your page for a disclaimer.
I'm not sure what else to day, they must certify the statements are true to the best of their knowledge, everything is labeled as opinion, it says in the usage policy that the opinions expressed are of the users using the site, not the site itself... I could add that in the footer or something. =) ---- Anyone have any thoughts on me selling the site and the domain for $1 to someone in a country (they would also host it there) that would be a little more friendly, (i.e. no libel suits for things that aren't libel.)
Also, another thing, I went through and looked at the IPs and times of doctors added in the same area as this doctor. It looks like about 6 people added the majority of the doctors in that area. But, they give many a high rating, 90s, and some 0s. A lot of the boards I was originally linked off deal with a variety of fringe diseases. Pancreatitis (sp?) and IBS/Crohns being some of them. These can lead to very bad experiences with some doctors ("it's all in your head you nutcase"), and very good ones with some ("Let's work together and see if we can improve your life"). The people who put in these reviews, I don't believe to be psycho or have axes to grind, it seems to me, that they just fairly rated their experiences, giving some doctors high marks, and others low marks. (This is a bit offtopic, and I still 100% agree with your last post, I'm just pointing out that perhaps the accusations of this doctor are a bit off. Your average person is quite capable of rating their experience with a doctor fairly, imo.)
Contact the owner of "rippoffreport dot com" He's done exactly what you are talking about - and can also give you some insight into the litigation he has gone through. Remember, if you sue yahoo, you have to sue in California (where they are located). If you sue Lycos, you have to serve them in Massachusetts, where the laws don't offer as much protection. California has a good SLAPP statute and large awards have been handed down.... but overseas makes the process a lot harder, if not impossible. If you can't get in touch with the guy who owns Ripoffreports, PM me and I'll put you in contact with someone who have successfully defended several cases on his own - including winning and collecting a fairly large award against a company who pursed him. He's currently in law school, but has represented himself in court. If he can't help you, he can put you in touch with people who can.