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Health
Doctor Sues Online Review Sites for Bad Ratings
I must say I think Dr. Kimberly Henry, cosmetic surgeon, has made a big professional mistake. She has filed a lawsuit to stop online reviewers from badmouthing her on the Internet. She is seeking injunctions against at least 12 reviewers from sites such as Yelp.com and DoctorScorecard.com. Dr. Henry claims libel and defamation, invasion of privacy and interference with prospective economic advantage and is seeking $1million in general damages and $1million in special damages, etc. etc. etc.
Now, I don't know Dr. Henry, nor do I know of her plastic surgery technique. I don't know who the disgruntled patients are or if they are unfairly targeting her. What I do know is that the Internet is here to stay and there is no place to hide if you do not provide excellent customer service. I was curious and checked DoctorScorecard.com, and there is a new complaint placed today, so I don't think this publicity is helping her. It will bring more angry patients out to comment, I'm afraid.
A similar case was filed last year by a dentist in San Francisco, Gelareh Rahbar, who filed a case against a patient who wrote a negative review on Yelp.com. The case was thrown out by the judge and Rahbar was ordered to pay $43K for the patient's legal fees. Anti-SLAPP (strategic lawsuits against public participation) laws provide some protection for online commentators as a preservation of free speech.
I wrote about medical rating sites back in 2007 and in 2008, and those posts have proven to be correct. (Reading my old posts is rather interesting, and I agree with myself all over again!) I know some physicians feel it is unfair that angry patients can say whatever they want and there is no rebuttal. But if a surgeon has that many disgruntled patients who would take the time to comment, there might just be a problem. And, let's face it, those sites are anonymous and I know of doctors who post their own "good" ratings. It swings both ways.
I feel sorry for Dr. Kimberly Henry because no one likes criticism and public critique is especially hard to swallow. But making it even more public with a lawsuit (that may be hard to win!) is just throwing oil on the fire. Better to spend that time and effort satisfying patients and asking them to post great comments to counteract the bad.
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Comments
Not Surprised
Unfortunately I am a male who's had an experience with this doctor that's left me disgruntled. I understand the general risks before and after surgery but what I experienced was unprofessional at best. Regardless, it does appear her Yelp suggests the same.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/kimberly-a-henry-md-greenbrae-2
Interesting
I took a few minutes to look up the comments and found one of the sites mentioned here:
http://www.doctorscorecard.com/view?id=Kimberly_Henry_CA
A decidedly odd contrast of comments to be sure - 1 or 10, not much in the middle. The positives sound like paid ad copy. The negatives sound like slam dunk malpractice suits, which makes it a mystery why those claiming to be harmed didn't take legal action. Still, it isn't hard to understand why someone wouldn't want to be dragged through the mud in a legal action on that sort of situation.
Truth is an absolute defense against libel claims. Opinion is protected speech . And, as the author notes, SLAPP actions are disfavored in a big way. If the posts at issue are even marginally accurate, Henry doesn't have a prayer of winning and the loss will be a matter of public record.
In recent years I have grown a decidely negative opinion of the medical profession in general. There are good doctors out there, but greedy and barely competent/incompetent describes far too many of them. If the posts about Henry are even close to true, she deserves to have her license jerked.
I agree with you entirely
I've had a really bad experience with a plastic surgeon before and my reasons why I did not file a mal-practice suit is because it is expensive, time consuming and emotionally depleting.
We know that plastic surgeons like Dr. Henry can afford top-notch lawyers and that we stand little or no chance of winning.
The Anti-SLAPP laws are there for a good reason, and I am grateful for having access to reviews on sites like yelp and doctor scorecard. It is our only (not - full proof) way to protect ourselves from expensive botched plastic surgery.
If Surgeons would only offer superb work and satisfied customers you wouldn't have the problem of a disgruntled former patients posting bad reviews on sites like yelp.