contract with dr to not rate them on line

[carter]

abc news carried a story today inwhich they described that drs are not liking that patients rate them on line.. so they ate asking / requiring patients to sign a contract stating that they will not post about a doctor's treatment.  in the story, the interviewed doctor said that he is tied by patient / dr confidentiallity so he feels no qualm in asking patients to sign.

my opinion is not very high of  dor who is not willing to be rated.... i may be biased as i have not had great treatment?

a.  missed the AN for years  dr said to not worry about hearing loss

b.  audiologist who did not return calls

c.  mri that had tech who was mad for staying OT and did not explain - did not deal with my fear of teh enclosed.

c.  a ck dr who could not defend her decisions and decided to revisit her planne treatment pn 2 seperate days.

e.  mri tech who ran wrong tests

f.  a ck dr who was totally unavailable during the days of treatement.  tech only could get PA to visit with wife and i.


now ownder they do want to be rated!!!!

[mimoore]

Here.. here. I totally agree!!!!!
Here I sit trying not too be angry at four different doctors who misdiagnosed me for 10 yrs. A little hard to get over.
Michelle

[Dan]

I always had to rate my soldiers in the military and I told them if you work hard and do your best you don't have to worry about your ratings. I never worried about ratings.  There are some people that you can never please but in the long run everyone will see who is good and who not.

Dan in Germany

[suboo73]

Carter,  I agree with you and Michelle - here here!    At about 40, i was 'just getting older.'  Meanwhile, my sister goes to the doctor and has a diagnosis in a few months, after the MRI.  OMGosh!
I really believe the doctors i dealt with just didn't have the experience, probably never saw an AN - but that is not an excuse to put me off at 40. - lucky for me, at 53 the AN is not super large.

Anyway - i am glad to hear you have received your treatment successfully at a facility that gave you good care and confidence in your decision.  How are you feeling these days?

All my best to you both!

Sue

[ppearl214]

saw the same thing on the news, Carter. Based on my years of misdiagnoses, being diagnosed with my "trifecta" (my AN is only 1 of 3 majors... and doesn't include all the secondary issues)...... I spoke to my bloke about it.. .and trust me, I made it known to him that if a dr was to ask me to sign an NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement... btw, I deal with them daily at my daytime job)... I would walk myself right out of their office.  I recommend my PCP all the time... she's fantastic... and even if she asked me to sign one, I'd tell her no... cuz, she won't get my patient referrals as well.

Drs requesting me to sign an NDA... Oh, I have a few acronyms I could use, back in their face!

GRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!        

Phyl

[Pooter]

I would think that any reputable doctor worth anything would not try to get people to sign NDA's.  I would further think that testimonials from active patients would be "good for business" for the good ones and not "good for business" for the bad ones.  I'm with Phyl that if I were asked to sign an NDA from any doctor for any reason then I'd walk out without being treated because I would immediately be suspect of their expertise.

Regards,
Brian

[MAlegant]

With great power comes great accountability.  Doctors as well!  Easy for me to say, I loved my doctors.

[sgerrard]

I always go by how many good comments a doctor gets, not by whether someone, somewhere has a complaint about them. Does the gag order include not saying anything  good about the doctor online?

I can't imagine a more damaging comment from a patient than "I would tell you about Dr. X, but I had to sign an agreement saying I wouldn't." Oh, that's bad.

I think the smarter better doctors will take a pass on this. I'm sticking with those.

Steve

[nteeman]

I think the issue to sign that you don't rate a doctor online is a legal issue and while I don't agree with it, I am not sure if it is against the law.

That said, I can understand the reason for the doctor's concern. My experience with forums in general is that more people post when they are unhappy with something and fewer post with raves. My cable service is often bashed on forums for that provider by people who are having problems with their system. Some folks give praise, and even complainers will occasionally comment that it is still the best out there, yet if you browsed the forum you would have to conclude that the service is bad. I would hate to think what the doctors forum would end up looking like.  Does the doctor have monitor his internet ratings to protect his practice?

I had a bad experience with an ENT who I initially saw for early symptoms that ended up being my AN and I do not use that doctor anymore. I tell people I know about my experience with him and let them make there own conclusion about him. I don't think I would post those comments and his name on a forum. I would have to say that for me to post a negative comment about a doctor it would have to be a severe action and in that case a law suit would probably make more sense.

Neal

[lori67]

Wow, that's interesting.  I agree with Phyl, if I were asked to fill out one of those forms, I'd toss it in the trash as I was making my way, quickly, out the door.  As Dr. Phil says, "people who have nothing to hide, hide nothing".  If my doctor was so worried about my saying bad things about him, he should probably make sure he's doing what I'm paying him to do in the first place and following that Hippocratic Oath he had to take ("first do no harm", etc).

I would like to think that most people aren't going to judge a doctor solely by what I say about him.  I used to work with a doctor who was just a mess - he looked like an unmade bed most of the time - ugly tie, shirt not quite pressed and tucked in, messy hair, but he was an excellent doctor.  So hopefully my mentioning the fact that he looked like he slept in his clothes wouldn't damage his practice as long as he had built a respectable reputation with his doctor skills.

But if someone had a legitimate complaint about this doctor, hopefully there would be a complaint on file about it with the AMA (or whatever country you happen to be in) and that is public record.  I can find out about the lawsuits or complaints against that doctor, which would speak to me much louder than someone casually complaining about him.  Maybe the doctor should be more worried about that information damaging his career.

Does the 1st Amendment (Freedom of Speech) apply to internet postings?  (US again, sorry - don't know about other countries..).  I would think that if I'm not falsely accusing or threatening in my post, I should be able to express my opinions.  I think we each have a responsibility to evaluate the opinion of others - just because I didn't like a particular doctor doesn't mean he's awful and no one should trust him.

Am I rambling again?  This all makes sense to me in my head, but I'm afraid it doesn't when I actually type it....   

Lori

[carter]

i have searched the internet and see that such contracts are npt uncommon. 

above all, it appears to be an infringement on  my rights.  to this, teh drs say that they ahve teh right to refuse services.....

i personally would elect to go elsewhere ..... or would i if it was a dr that was teh one that i used to follow up on an after ck?  where do you then go?  no outlet.

just a new twist to the patient dr relationship

[BJL]

Patient confidentality protects the patient not the doctor, so if you want to rate a doctor, good or bad, go for it. If a doctor wants you to sign a contract there is something wrong, not a doctor I want on my case.

[Jim Scott]

I've never rated a doctor or even looked at websites that 'rate' doctors.  I go by a doctor's reputation with patients and input from an RN we know who has observed most of the local doctors over her 30+ year career as a hospital nurse.  Frankly, I'm not that interested in 'rating' doctors online.  I avoid any doctor that doesn't treat me with respect (he/she doesn't have to be obsequious) or seems inept, which has occurred.  So far, most doctors I've encountered - especially during my AN experience - were quite competent and treated me with a reasonable level of respect, so I have no complaints. 

That having been stated, I'm certainly not against doctor 'rating' websites.  I agree that any doctor insisting - upfront - that I sign an agreement not to post an online comment about his services on a public forum is a bit presumptuous - and a request that I would deny.  However, I'm not an attorney and I have no idea whether this internet doctor rating business has any possible (negative) legal ramifications.  It may.  Of course, posting borderline slanderous comments i.e. "Dr. X is a butcher with a medical license', Dr. X looks like an unmade bed" would be blatantly unfair as well as potentially legally actionable.  At some point, we'll all engage a doctor that may have a poor 'bedside manner' or runs a disorganized office but in practice, may be a very good doctor.  It happens.  With sometimes anonymous internet postings (that tend to embolden people to go negative) over some minor misunderstanding that they chose to perceive as an insult, it could be a slippery slope - and one that I plan to avoid.  But that's me. 

Jim

[leapyrtwins]

Very interesting topic, Carter - thanks for starting it.

IMO, any doctor worth his salt would never ask a patient to sign a contract not to rate him/her online or any place else.

Like numerous others here, I had incredible doctors - and I never hesitate to recommend them to others.  In fact, I am very proud to do so. 

However, unfortunately, as we all know, not all doctors are good doctors (same goes for lawyers, teachers, and pretty much any profession).  I think asking a patient to sign such an agreement would be an insult to the patient.  I personally would think twice about becoming a patient of any doctor who asked me to do this - especially one who would be treating my brain tumor.

Jan

[no2hopkins]

My ENT and Neurosurgeon at Hopkins were and still are on Baltimore Magazine's Baltimore's Best Doctors list. My surgical results were extremely disappointing. Their training and reputations within the medical community were impeccable. What I neglected to do was talk to past patients.  That would be my recopmmendation.  Dr. reviews can be beneficial.