Access To Justice

A friend of mine was recently undergoing some medical treatment, and he was not happy with his doctor.  It wasn’t that the doctor was incompetent, or had done anything egregiously wrong, just that the doctor was not easy to talk to, and had a poor bedside manner.  My friend was able to find a new doctor and by word-of-mouth, he heard that the new doctor had a very easy-going demeanor and really spent the time with patients to help them understand their care.  He switched and he’s very happy.

That’s the beauty of our interconnected world.  As consumers of everything from food to medical care, we don’t have to go into anything blind anymore.  The virtual water cooler of the Internet , blogosphere and social media have empowered a legion of citizen advocates who recommend for and against virtually everything whether you’re dropping off dirty shirts at the dry cleaner or junior at day care.

Count me among those who think that’s a good thing. Information is power, and for the longest time the only source of reviews were the traditional media which only covered certain things like restaurants and theaters, and specialty publications like Consumer Reports which spent the time and resources to independently test certain products like cars and electronics.

For everything else, consumers were on their own insured only by those ancient Latin words caveat emptor.

That has changed dramatically, and it’s affecting the health care community.   In fact, according to the Washington Post, there are now more than 40 Web sites that provide consumers with advice and feedback on physicians, among them RateMDs.com, Angie’s List, Yelp, DrScore and Vitals.com.

Again, count me among those who think this is a good thing.  Health care is one of the most important consumption choices we make, and why wouldn’t we want people to be able to offer real-time feedback on doctors the way they do on auto mechanics or house painters?

Well, apparently some docs are not on board.  According to a recent story in the Washington Post , some doctors have begun asking patients to sign “no complaint” contracts.  These agreements prohibit online postings or commentary in any media outlet “without prior written consent” of the physician.

Make no mistake they are gag orders pure and simple, and they are unethical, unprofessional, and in many cases possibly illegal. If you have been subjected to one of these agreements and you have concerns about it.  Contact my office; you may have legal rights that you are not aware of.

Health care is perhaps the most important choice we make as consumers.  If we are happy with the care we receive, we should be free to say so, and if not, we should be equally free to make our concern known.  I do seem to recall something in my Constitutional law class about the First Amendment after all.