Medical Justice has updated the program to prevent patients from broadcasting defamatory information about their doctors on the Internet. Now members can obtain everything a physician needs to proactively prevent becoming a future victim of Internet libel.
The Problem:
Physicians spend "time and treasure" in medical school and residency training for their highly difficult and specialized profession. As such, a physician's most valuable asset resulting from the years of training and experience is his or her reputation.
Along with technical expertise and improved judgment, physicians spend years and resources continuing to develop their reputation and their business. In a field where referrals are often based on word of mouth, reputation is everything to a good physician, and many spend years cultivating impeccable credentials and positive public perception. Unfortunately, all physicians now face a new and potentially career-destroying risk as unhappy patients can easily bad mouth their doctor to an international audience via the Internet.
There are now over thirty doctor-rating web sites. Many physicians have found their names on web blogs and Internet sites in language demeaning to their reputation. Unfortunately, websites are permitted to post potentially libelous content with little fear of reprisal since, according to the law, they are only a vehicle for user-generated content and are thus not legally responsible for its creation.
And it is quite difficult to have the information removed, even if the information is false, because the threshold for physicians prevailing in an action for defamation is very high. Further, the time and expense associated with such after-the-fact activity could be enormous. Finally, many posts are written anonymously, making it even more difficult to obtain a remedy from a specific person.
The Solution:
Medical Justice has developed a system which was launched early in 2007. The program embraces patient-friendly contract language to prevent broadcast of defamatory information on the internet before it happens.
The program also monitors high profile physician rating sites to verify the sites are not allowing posts on Medical Justice members.
Further, if it does, the physician will have the appropriate tools in place to remove the post. In a sense, it is a vaccine for Internet libel.
Medical Justice launched version 2.0.0 of this program in October, 2008. This update represents a major improvement over what was already a very powerful program.
Members can call or e-mail our office to obtain everything one needs to proactively prevent becoming a future victim of Internet libel. The prevention program is a member benefit and is provided at no extra cost. Or the program is available as a stand-alone service. Call 1-877-MEDJUST (1-877-633-5878) for details or e-mail info@medicaljustice.com
