As stated above, I agree about the money. If there should be sites like these, then why not have well done, regulated sites like a FB or Twitter. I don't mean use them, but it's crazy to have all these sites, and they are all formatted differently, have wrong info as John said, and practically encourage negative reviews.
One frustration about medicine is that the cards are stacked against us for everything. If someone wants to sue, they can take the record to as many attorneys as they wish. If they lose, oh well, it was contingency any way. If they make a board complaint and lose, oh well, it's anonymous. If a staff member is fired and brings a harrassment charge against you, they are protected by the whistle blower act. You can't turn around and sue them.
The board lists every thing on their site. Why isn't their a page on it for those who have sued or those who have brought complaints. Maybe the complaint was legit, and they should have prevailed, but it would be nice to go online before you accept a patient and find out they have filed two board complaints.
The frustration I have with these online sites is the anonymity and that things are taken out of context. I think they should have to at least register with their first name and last initial to at least let you remember the even if there were one. But, as the physician in the article at the top stated, I don't even want to know. I will let the patients go on those sites, I will remain ignorant.
One parent asked me to send the prescription on a Saturday to a certain pharmacy. One bad thing about ePrescribe is you don't know they are closed. So, she was livid that I didn't call her to tell her it was closed. This was a major pharmacy. So, she went to another one in the chain, and they have access to the answering machine. "Nope, he didn't leave a script ma'am." They never told he that it may be ePrescribed given I have sent hundreds to them. Then she called back, but the service was down. By the time I got the page, it was all over. The perfect storm. Told me the next day; well yelled at me the next day that her child was very, very sick. Yet, she didn't take the child to the ED. So, she never bothered to listen to my side of the story. All it would have taken was to go to the pharmacy and see if the script were there and when it was sent in.
So, she left the practice. Could have ended there. But, no she had to put it on her Facebook. She asked for suggestions for other pediatricians. Could have ended there. But, she had to add "I need a new one, because mine is incompetent" and she used my practice name.
I don't think the patients know the amount of time and work and money we have put into becoming a physician. Yell at me, change doctors, whatever; but don't try to hurt my practice.
