Class Action Lawsuit Healthgrades.com for defamation?

[SeaShells43]

If healthcare.com publishes a statement about a physician that is false(written not by a patient), that is written as a fact(e.g does not answer patients questions), which was published due to their negligence(didn't confirm this was a real patient), and can cost you up to $100k in damages because you are in the middle of negotiating your contract - ISN'T THIS THE LEGAL DEFINITION OF DEFAMATION?! Why aren't physicians subpoenaing healthgrades.com and suing them for defamation?

healthgrades.com doesn't actually verify that the posters are your real patients! For all you know your competitors could just want to throw dirt on you or your colleague could be planning to burn you. If there are false negative posts about you on healthgrades.com it can have direct financial impact on your practice or on your contract negotiations.

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[birchswing]

The EU ruled that web-sites can be responsible for user comments. I doubt such a ruling would ever be made in the US. You'd have to find out who actually used the service to make the comment and sue that person directly.

You can make a request to Healthgrades directly to have a review removed, but they're not obligated to do so.

 

[Winged Scapula]

None of the common physician review websites verify that the person writing it has actually been seen. At most, they ask to you click a box stating that you seen the provider your rating.

At any rate this is best suited for another forum. Moving to topics in healthcare.

 

[deleted480308]

If healthcare.com publishes a statement about a physician that is false(written not by a patient), that is written as a fact(e.g does not answer patients questions), which was published due to their negligence(didn't confirm this was a real patient), and can cost you up to $100k in damages because you are in the middle of negotiating your contract - ISN'T THIS THE LEGAL DEFINITION OF DEFAMATION?! Why aren't physicians subpoenaing healthgrades.com and suing them for defamation?

healthgrades.com doesn't actually verify that the posters are your real patients! For all you know your competitors could just want to throw dirt on you or your colleague could be planning to burn you. If there are false negative posts about you on healthgrades.com it can have direct financial impact on your practice or on your contract negotiations.

What mean thing did someone write about you on healthgrades?

 

[12glaucoma34]

If healthcare.com publishes a statement about a physician that is false(written not by a patient), that is written as a fact(e.g does not answer patients questions), which was published due to their negligence(didn't confirm this was a real patient), and can cost you up to $100k in damages because you are in the middle of negotiating your contract - ISN'T THIS THE LEGAL DEFINITION OF DEFAMATION?! Why aren't physicians subpoenaing healthgrades.com and suing them for defamation?

healthgrades.com doesn't actually verify that the posters are your real patients! For all you know your competitors could just want to throw dirt on you or your colleague could be planning to burn you. If there are false negative posts about you on healthgrades.com it can have direct financial impact on your practice or on your contract negotiations.

If you could prove the bolded information was occurring, that would constitute slander on the part of the competitor.

 

[Vandalia]

If healthcare.com publishes a statement about a physician that is false(written not by a patient), that is written as a fact(e.g does not answer patients questions), which was published due to their negligence(didn't confirm this was a real patient), and can cost you up to $100k in damages because you are in the middle of negotiating your contract - ISN'T THIS THE LEGAL DEFINITION OF DEFAMATION?! Why aren't physicians subpoenaing healthgrades.com and suing them for defamation?

healthgrades.com doesn't actually verify that the posters are your real patients! For all you know your competitors could just want to throw dirt on you or your colleague could be planning to burn you. If there are false negative posts about you on healthgrades.com it can have direct financial impact on your practice or on your contract negotiations.

First, that would fail legally for at least a half-dozen reasons as described in the reply to another post.

Second, if that were the legal standard, this site and everyone on it would have about a couple of millions dollars in judgement against them "She said mean things about surgeons and didn't use her true name when she did it."

Finally, IF a competitor intentionally provided false information for the sole purpose of interfering with contract negotiations, there are other torts that cover this and are much easier to assert and prove. But the suit would be against the competitor, not against the medium they used to do it.

 

[samtd]

I have the same problem. Healthgrades is a shady business. Encourages anyone to write bad reviews on doctor and then force and blackmail doctors into paying lots of money to remove the bad reviews. My ex girlfriend is not a patient . She keeps writing bad reviews on me every month. I can imagine lots of bitter ex of doctors doing the same thing. Healthgrades is not accredited and is not a legit business but pops the first on google engine!. Doctors have no privacy in their life. Everyone wants to profit of them.

 

[xavier2000]

How about if they publish inaccurate information? They claim I have had board action taken. It's not me - someone with similar name in another state.