It’s one thing to handle a negative review from a patient. It’s another when the attack comes from a former employee. The damage can be personal, professional, and lasting—and it often tempts physicians to respond in kind. Resist that temptation. There’s a better way forward.
The first step is confirming the source. Online comments can be anonymous or posted under pseudonyms. If you accuse the wrong person, you risk making a bad situation worse. Once you’re certain of the author, preserve the evidence. Take screenshots and note the date, time, and platform. Content can vanish quickly, and without documentation, it’s harder to take action later.
Next, look closely at what was said. A post that says, “I didn’t like working there” is generally protected opinion. But statements that are demonstrably false and harm your reputation may qualify as defamation. If the post includes protected patient information, it could even trigger a HIPAA violation—and that’s serious. This is also the point to review your own employment records. If the employee signed a confidentiality agreement, HIPAA acknowledgment, or non-disparagement clause, those documents may give you additional leverage.
From there, you have several potential paths. Sometimes the smartest move is to do nothing and let the post fade into obscurity. Other times, reporting the content to the platform for violating its terms of service will result in removal. In certain cases, a carefully worded, private request can resolve the matter quietly. And if the content is both false and damaging, a legal letter from an attorney can make your position clear.
On occasion, you may clearly identify the “anonymous” poster, who believes they are anonymous. If you hint you have evidence that they are posting the nastygrams, they’ll likely deny it, but they may stop. Because they’re embarrassed. And they got caught. Of course, that implies this individual has a conscience.
By the way, you can tie a non-disparagement agreement to severance pay, assuming you have honored all other contractual obligations. So, if you are concerned about a soon-to-be former employee’s ability to maintain discretion and professionalism, you can link some severance paycheck to future silence. Yes, you’d be trading severance pay for playing nice post-departure.
Whatever you choose, maintain professionalism. Do not share confidential information or fire off an emotional rebuttal online. Responding in the heat of the moment can extend the life of the post and make you appear defensive. Instead, put your energy into strengthening your reputation. A steady stream of authentic, positive reviews from patients and community members will push harmful content into the background—and over time, make it irrelevant.
When a former employee tries to harm your good name online, the goal is to protect your credibility without crossing lines yourself. Choose a strategy that is proportionate to the harm, preserves your integrity, and keeps you on solid legal footing.
What do you think?
What does a non disparagement agreement even look like?
Thanks Jeff
Very thoughtful. With Insta stories disappearing after 24 hrs we have had a former employee disparage us multiple times without naming us other than “the place I used to work at.”
That gives her cover, although she only worked in one place after she moved to California. When we pointed out several violations of her contract (drawn carefully by Byrd Adatto), she basically told us to go to hell and to try to come after her as she was all lawyered up.
So very little we can do
As health care professionals, allowing a negative post to “fade into obscurity” is directly counter intuitive to our training and philosophy. Most other businesses apply the internet concept of “dilution of pollution is the solution,” implying that hundreds of positive posts will lessen the impact of a few negative ones. While this concept may be somewhat true, would a physician or other health care professional ever wish to lessen the impact of a pathologic condition by making the patient bigger so that less of the patient is pathologic?
I think we would rather eliminate the problem as opposed to hiding it but our authoritative professional code requires our confidentiality lest we incur a federal violation of HIPAA laws. We must keep within strict guidelines as opposed to other types of businesses which can object to online discrediting posts by responding in kind. It’s very difficult to sit upon one’s hands when there are very often two sides to the coin but we must all resist the emotional temptation.
I agree with Dr. Kouzoukian. The “laws of averages”, if they exist would suggest that we will occasionally find negative reviews, hopefully just ones’ that complain about having to wait too long in your reception room. When I was in practice, there was less social networking than there is now. (I didn’t realize how fortunate I was).
Getting into an online pissing match does not seem to be a good solution. If you have a busy practice of many patients trusting you, you have already beat the odds. My own experience suggested that patients trusted me, for which I am eternally grateful. For me, maintaining my quality of care was my highest goal; and projecting that I was actually LISTENING to my patients.
Michael M. Rosenblatt, DPM
I have provided consulting and other services to those surgeons and physicians whom have been sham peer reviewed sometimes resulting in horrible press. And this nasty appears on Google searches forever. I pay very close attention to physicians following these horrible attacks. One group folds and goes away never to practice again. Another group just excels after the negative PR and enjoys a great practice. I would love to give some details but it is best that the individuals and their unique situations remain private. I am not saying that this does not affect the individuals emotionally as it certainly does. But, I do greatly respect those whom overcome this adversity.
If the reader is working to overcome this type of problem, I welcome the call. I would love to work to figure out a solution.
Richard B. Willner
The Center for Peer Review Justice
http://www.PeerReviewJustice.org