Welcome to the internet age. Anyone can purchase a domain name and set up a website for all types of reasons.

Do we see patients putting together websites singing your praises? Nope. They may post a positive review on Google or Healthgrades. But a website devoted to your good works? I’ve not seen one.

I HAVE seen websites set up to telegraph what a charlatan the doctor is; and how he should not have a license; with pics of his handiwork. And the domain name bears an uncanny resemblance to the practice name. Oy.

What to do?

The only tools for addressing the website a disgruntled patient publishes are (a) negotiation (having the patient voluntarily remove the site and keep it down); or (b) litigation.

I’ll start with litigation, or the courts more broadly.

Litigation is possible if what the patient is writing is considered defamation. Defamation consists of false statements made to third parties damaging your reputation. Truth and opinion are defenses against a charge of defamation. For example, stating “Dr. Smith is not a board-certified neurosurgeon” could be considered defamation, precisely because Dr. Smith IS a board-certified neurosurgeon. Stating “Dr. Smith is a butcher” is not considered defamation. The former can be demonstrably proven as true/false. The latter is considered a protected opinion.

Litigation is also possible if someone has misappropriated your trademark. Typically, courts have held that gripe sites containing some indication of their nature in the domain name itself (such as yourcompanysucks.com, yourcompanyfraud.com, or ihateyourcompany.com) are permissible, provided that the site is used for criticism or commentary, rather than for commercial purposes. If a patient’s website has the look and feel of a gripe site and is not confusing the public, courts will generally leave those sites alone. But if the site incorporates your unique logo, has a domain name that is remarkably similar to yours, and is making money selling merchandise, well, you may prevail in a trademark action.

Further, if they ARE using your actual trademarked name in its domain name, you can petition an accredited dispute resolution service provider to arbitrate the matter, seeking to transfer the domain name back to you. Details about the Uniform Domain-Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) process can be found here: https://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/guide/ The process does not generally take much time, and it is relatively inexpensive.

To win a UDRP dispute, the trademark owner must meet three criteria:

1. The disputed domain name must be identical or confusingly similar to a trademark that the complainant owns.
2. The complainant must substantiate that the respondent does not have legitimate rights to the domain. This can go beyond registered trademark rights at times, such as verifying that the respondent has not set up a business under the disputed name and that they are not known by that name.
   It is possible that the respondent has used a particular name for several years which has created their rights to the domain name. If the similarity is purely coincidental, for example, if someone registered the same company name 20 years ago, long before you registered your company and trademark, that is just coincidental and there is no UDRP case.
3. Thirdly, the complainant must show that the disputed domain name was registered in “bad faith” and that the registration is currently being used in bad faith. Bad faith means that there is clearly intent to deceive. This involves looking at the owner of the domain name, and then investigating how the website is being used, if there are misrepresentations regarding the trademark owner, and so forth.

Finally, in some states, for example -Pennsylvania, you can try to co-opt the support of a district attorney to file charges against such a patient for online harassment.

Pennsylvania Section 2709. Harassment.

(a)  Offense defined.–A person commits the crime of harassment when, with intent to harass, annoy or alarm another, the person:

(1)  strikes, shoves, kicks, or otherwise subjects the other person to physical contact, or attempts or threatens to do the same;

(2)  follows the other person in or about a public place or places;

(3)  engages in a course of conduct or repeatedly commits acts which serve no legitimate purpose;

(4)  communicates to or about such other person any lewd, lascivious, threatening, or obscene words, language, drawings, or caricatures;

(5)  communicates repeatedly in an anonymous manner;

(6)  communicates repeatedly at extremely inconvenient hours; or

(7)  communicates repeatedly in a manner other than specified in paragraphs (4), (5) and (6).

The US Supreme Court addressed a case this past summer (2023), watering down laws such as the one referenced above.

Finally, one can negotiate with the patient to take the offending site down. The benefit to that strategy, if successful, is finality. It solves the problem now and going forward. You can either negotiate directly with the patient directly or hire a lawyer to get the job done. Most of the time, if the negotiation works, the site comes down, and new sites do not appear. It’s over.

Most patients like or even love their doctor. Even if a patient does not appreciate their doctor, they almost never engage in a scorched earth campaign, setting up a website to detail their negative experience/outcome.

“Almost never” is not the same as “never.” Such sites can be very damaging to a practice. So, understanding the tips above can help practices identify the next steps to mitigate the damage.

What do you think?

Medical Justice provides free consultations to doctors facing medico-legal obstacles. We have solutions for doctor-patient conflicts, unwarranted demands for refunds, online defamation (patient review mischief), meritless litigation, and a gazillion other issues. If you are navigating a medico-legal obstacle, visit our booking page to schedule a free consultation – or use the tool shared below.

Jeffrey Segal, MD, JD

Chief Executive Officer and Founder

Dr. Jeffrey Segal, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Medical Justice, is a board-certified neurosurgeon. Dr. Segal is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons; the American College of Legal Medicine; and the American Association of Neurological Surgeons. He is also a member of the North American Spine Society. In the process of conceiving, funding, developing, and growing Medical Justice, Dr. Segal has established himself as one of the country’s leading authorities on medical malpractice issues, counterclaims, and internet-based assaults on reputation.

Dr. Segal was a practicing neurosurgeon for approximately ten years, during which time he also played an active role as a participant on various state-sanctioned medical review panels designed to decrease the incidence of meritless medical malpractice cases.

Dr. Segal holds a M.D. from Baylor College of Medicine, where he also completed a neurosurgical residency. Dr. Segal served as a Spinal Surgery Fellow at The University of South Florida Medical School. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa as well as the AOA Medical Honor Society. Dr. Segal received his B.A. from the University of Texas and graduated with a J.D. from Concord Law School with highest honors.

In 2000, he co-founded and served as CEO of DarPharma, Inc, a biotechnology company in Chapel Hill, NC, focused on the discovery and development of first-of-class pharmaceuticals for neuropsychiatric disorders.

Dr. Segal is also a partner at Byrd Adatto, a national business and health care law firm. Byrd Adatto was selected as a Best Law Firm in the 2023 edition of the “Best Law Firms” list by U.S. News – Best Lawyers. With over 50 combined years of experience in serving doctors, dentists, and other providers, Byrd Adatto has a national pedigree to address most legal issues that arise in the business and practice of medicine.