Doctors are preoccupied with physician review sites and the potential for bad press. Often the first impulse is to put the law on your side. Consider, for example, Dr. Kimberly Henry, cosmetic surgeon who last year initiated legal action against at least 12 reviewers from sites such as Yelp.com and DoctorScorecard.com. While she may feel some sense of satisfaction ... Continue Reading about Physician Review Sites and the Streisand Effect
Facebook and the Rhode Island Doctor
As we work to get our fellow physicians to emerge from the shadows, the last thing we need is a social health horror story. This week a Rhode Island physician was formally reprimanded for breaching patient confidentiality on Facebook. You can get catch up with the core story of Facebook and the Rhode Island Doctor on MSNBC or read KevinMD’s nice analysis. Look ... Continue Reading about Facebook and the Rhode Island Doctor
The Danger of Medical Celebrity
Dr. Val Jones recently wrote a Better Health post that was critical of Dr. Mehmet Oz. Her piece questions Dr. Oz's credibility as a source of health information. I retweeted her mention of the post and quipped that I was unlikely to be a guest of of Dr. Oz any time soon. For a short spell the twittersphere had some fun detailing the potential repercussions of ... Continue Reading about The Danger of Medical Celebrity
Culture of Fear in Healthcare
Fear seems to be a universal theme in healthcare. I see it everywhere. In fact, we live in a culture of fear. Doctors are afraid. Hospital administrators worry. Industry jumps at its own shadow. We fear malpractice, privacy transgressions and issues with federal compliance. Most of us are afraid of new things. But what we need most is new new perspectives and ... Continue Reading about Culture of Fear in Healthcare
The 911 Blog Disclaimer
I'm sure you've seen them: The blog disclaimer that remind readers to call 911 in the event of emergency. But is someone choking on a hot dog really going to dial up KevinMD or SeattleMamaDoc for help? Does anyone really believe that 33 charts is the place to deal with your acute airway obstruction when you have a just a couple of minutes to live? Here's my ... Continue Reading about The 911 Blog Disclaimer
The Disney T-shirt Opportunity
I evaluated a 7-year-old girl with abdominal pain last week. When I entered the room I noticed that she was wearing a High School Musical t-shirt. That’s, of course, where I started. During the first couple of minutes in the room she learned that I have a daughter about her age, I’ve seen High School Musical at least a dozen times, and I know most of the songs ... Continue Reading about The Disney T-shirt Opportunity