In innumerable ways the Internet has benefited the public. Online shopping means that goods are available at lower prices and often from a wider variety of sources, both nationally and internationally. That is good news for consumers.
If we want to purchase a car or appliance, for example, there are countless websites displaying consumer reviews from people who purchased the same item. These review sites help us make informed choices for our consumer decisions.
Increasingly, sites such as RateMDs.com take that process a step further, asking the public to rate their physician. For obvious reasons, reviewing a refrigerator is quite different than reviewing a physician. And the downside: it is all too easy for a patient to bad-mouth his physician in an anonymous and public way. With the click of a mouse, such posts can have a detrimental and permanent effect on the physician’s reputation.
