Disclosure and "reputation management" firms.

Some doctors hire reputation management firms to scout the net for negative commentary about them. These kinds of firms effectively run interference in behalf of a doctor as in they interfere with the flow or presence of commentary about him. These kinds of RM firms perform a variety of services for the doctor, including but not limited to:

1: Constantly monitoring what is said about them on the net.
2: Bombarding the net with good press so it 'pushes down' negative stuff during a Google search
3: A variety of tactics to use to 'prompt' the board owner to take down negative commentary.
The spectrum can include anything from a polite letter requesting removal to a legal threat.

Some of the RM firms advocate in favor of drafting something that looks like a legal threat as it has a good chance of the board owner 'caving in' to the request. Others advise against that because it could piss off a board owner and prompt them to announce; 'This guy gives me legal threats' (which can backfire on the doctor).

4: Services that include the RM firm pretending they are a "happy patient" and entering commentary of such.
(Which I think could be an FTC violation to pose as such)

RM endeavors play a role in promotional information being found first and negative information being flushed away.

On the other side of the coin, patients on message boards are actually in PURSUIT of information the doctor is NOT controlling himself. Asking for feedback from other patients about a doc is such an example.

On one hand, the doctor wants to control what info patients get about him. On the other hand patients want information not controlled by the doctor.

Do you think doctors hiring reputation management firms should DISCLOSE that to patients.

---

Can hardly walk. Need hip replacement.

Thing is that makes it hard for legit people (like patients) to see how great this board is. Anyway, I made private, the main face board and opened up face aug for a while.

---

Can hardly walk. Need hip replacement.

From NPR.com -

If you've just moved, as we have, and it's time to find a new doctor, how do you at least rule out the really bad apples?

Well, try the cool interactive map put together by William Heisel for the Reporting on Health site. You might start with the version embedded above.

Heisel's been trolling the records of state medical boards across the country this year. And he's found all kinds of problems you'd probably like to learn about before ever setting foot in a hospital or doctor's office.


There's the California ER doc charged with driving under the influence on her way to the hospital on Valentine's Day last year. After the cops released her, she worked the overnight shift "legally drunk" for at least half the period, he writes.

A recent Heisel post tells the story of a Kansas doctor disciplined by the state medical board. The county hospital that employed him decided the offenses were serious enough to fire him. Eventually, the state medical board censured him, too. But for what? You can't tell from the records, Heisel notes, because all the specifics have been redacted.

Finally, just up the road from us, Heisel uncovers the case of an anesthesiologist at Children's National Medical Center who was found to be taking painkillers that were supposed to be used for children's surgeries.

MissJ I'm wondering, of the inactive accounts you have, could some of them be lurker/spiders that are keeping track of what is being transmitted here?

For example, say someone searches for something and my site comes up. It comes up because Google has indexed it some way to be called up after it's bots have been in here. That's fine as a search on Google does not really use my resources. But unlimited viewing does as it can make the site go slower for the members. However, I can control unlimited viewing by changing the privileges of a "guest" . Like I can set the controls that a guest can't post and have 'read only' access or I can set controls where guest has 'no access' to read.

Since I'm basically a patient advocate, I don't want to close off all discussion to outside viewers because I feel a lot of stuff on here tends to be quite helpful. But since I can't afford to subsidize the entire 'public at large', all resources are not open to the entire public at large.

---

Can hardly walk. Need hip replacement.

The bots are not a big problem for me.

---

Can hardly walk. Need hip replacement.

DCNGA,
Now lasers are something where reputation management is so built in to their marketing. I mean for lasers, that's all the average patient finds is promotional stuff from the laser industry. What are your suggestions with regard to using Google to dig up the dirt or get the real goods on LASERS? Would "LASER injury" be a good place to start?

---

Can hardly walk. Need hip replacement.

yes this is so

even celebs hire management companies to "hide" what might otherwise be seen (by potential investors, producers, studios and fans) when googling their name.

ingenious in this time of "full-google-disclosure"

HateMe - I'm glad you brought this up. I don't think we can assume that doctors who are trying to protect their reputations online are all just bad doctors covering up their mistakes. I think there are also many cases of unhappy patients, perhaps for no reason that can be legitimately claimed against their doctors, who try to attack through internet postings. Working in the legal field myself, I often see where our clients might really be in the wrong, while sometimes our clients are in the right. It just doesn't cut one way or another.

---

I can guarantee you that this kind of thing happens all the time. Services are CONSTANTLY cold calling me, and they do the same to my partner who's a physician.