Doctors Ask You to Sign Away Your Rights

A few weeks ago, I was contacted by Pamela Dolan, a business reporter for the AMA (American Medical Association). She was writing a story about a new program being offered to doctors by a company called Medical Justice, and asked me for my opinion on the program.

Medical Justice calls it a "vaccine against libel." Before any exams, diagnoses or treatment recommendations take place, doctors ask their patients to sign a form promising they will not make comments on any website -- good or bad -- about their experience with the doctor. I'm not sure what can happen if they do, (will some strong armed muscle man try to clean that patient's clock?).... but somehow Medical Justice 'guarantees" a doctor who has paid for the program won't suffer from anything a patient has posted about that doctor on the web.

I was floored when Pamela told me about it! Although, in retrospect, it should not have surprised me. And the truth is, I can see all points of view on this one -- so bear with me.

From Medical Justice's point of view? They are out to make a buck from physicians scared about their reputations who think that a simple signature from a patient will somehow prevent a patient from sharing an opinion.

From a physician's POV? Any physician who spends his/her money for something like this deserves to have anything written about him that is written. How arrogant to believe he has a right to control a patient's options for expressing an opinion! Doctors are in a service business. Passing judgment on a doctor's ability to provide the service s/he is hired for is every patient's right.

I believe no doctor worth his/her stethoscope will ask for such a promise from a patient.

From a patient's POV? Any patient who is even offered a form needs to run for the door, and make an appointment with another doctor. Unfortunately, I fear many patients who visit a doctor who has bought into such a system will simply sign away their right to proffer their opinions on the web without even knowing what they have signed.

Doctors should not be so concerned about preserving their right to be arrogant, condescending and medically inept. Instead, they should be working toward creating partnerships with their patients. The suggestion I made to Pamela was that doctors who fear an Internet posting shouldn't be spending their money with Medical Justice; rather, they should be spending their money on communications and customer service training .

And that's the real bottom line. Communications is the responsibility of both physicians and patients. Building a partnership based on trust and professionalism creates a far more satisfying win-win situation for both.

P.S. If you are handed one of these forms, will you let me know?
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