This week, the national media continued its coverage of our services to protect physicians from Internet defamation. Several of these stories used the attention-grabbing headline of “gag order.” This statement could not be farther from the truth.
Mutual privacy agreements do not create a choice between healthcare and one’s right to free speech (as some have erroneously claimed). We recognize that medical errors can and do occur. There are existing processes and viable venues where patients can report bad experiences with physicians. For example, other doctors, lawyers, friends, state licensing boards, civil court and more.
We are not only doctors. We are patients and want to be able to choose the best healthcare professionals available so we receive the highest quality care. We agree that viable, actionable and statistically significant feedback is beneficial to patients and doctors alike. Unfortunately, most current rating sites fail at these criteria. We are diligently working to develop such a mechanism, utilizing the Internet, as an integral part of our long-term solution.
What are the facts?
Who we are: We are Medical Justice, an organization that is focused on serious proposals for reforming the entire healthcare system, not just for physicians, but also payers, and patients. These proposals, as well as discussions of our core offering, have been published in a number of peer-reviewed journals and presented at scientific, legal, and policy conferences.
How we’re involved with the issue of online defamation:
