Doctor Review websites and
legal issues around dealing
with adverse ratings
Edmund Burke
The Honourable Edmund Burke
Defamation
“Defamation occurs where one person communicates,
by words, photographs, video, illustrations or other
means, material which has the effect or tendency of
damaging the reputation of another.”
Slander
In the past general law divided defamation into two
categories - libel and slander.
Libel is the publication of defamatory matter in
permanent form, while slander is the publication of
defamatory matter in non-permanent form.
Your Professional Standards
• Medical Councils in both Australia and New Zealand
have guidelines on good medical practice.
•
• The AMA and NZMA and AMSA all have codes of
ethics for their members.
Reality / The Internet
Human Nature
• “The true test of a
man's character is
what he does when
no one is watching.”
• John Wooden
I’M NOT TALKING ABOUT CLIVE
Chickens
Typical passage
• We are instructed to inform you that it would be open to our
client to institute proceedings for damages for defamation
against you in the courts. At this stage our client does not
propose to do so, but has instructed us to make it quite clear, as
we do, that all of our client’s rights against you are expressly
reserved in relation to any defamatory statements which you
may have made in the past or may make in the future. Our
client’s instructions to us not to institute proceedings at this
stage in no way involves any waiver of his rights. If there is any
repetition of the defamatory statements, our client will instruct
us to institute proceedings immediately. Our client reserves
their right to rely upon this letter in any court or other forum.
Criminal Code
Section 474.17 of the Criminal Code Act 1995 (a Commonwealth Act)
reads as follows:
474.17 Using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence
(1) A person is guilty of an offence if:
(a) the person uses a carriage service; and
(b) the person does so in a way (whether by the method of use or the
content of a communication, or both) that reasonable persons would
regard as being, in all the circumstances, menacing, harassing or
offensive.
Penalty: Imprisonment for 3 years.
Pre – ops
Online Reviews
According to a 2012 study published in the Journal of
the American Medical Association, 59 percent of
individuals seeking a physician for themselves found
online reviews of doctors to be "somewhat" or "very"
important when choosing a doctor.
GET THE MESSAGE
Triage
1. Is this causing me real damage or does it just hurt
my feelings?
2. How much damage is it causing me or has the
potential to cause me?
3. How much am I willing to invest in time and money
to (maybe) make this go away?
http://blog.tresscox.com.au/
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