• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

33 Charts

  • About
    • What is 33 Charts?
    • Bryan Vartabedian MD
  • Blog
  • 33mail
  • Foci
    • Social/Public Media
    • Physicians
    • Patients
    • Hospitals
    • Information
    • Process/Flow
    • Technology
    • Digital culture
    • Future Medicine
  • The Public Physician
Physicians, Social/Public Media

The Cost of Ignoring the Streisand Effect

April 1, 2013 By Bryan Vartabedian · Reading Time: < 1 minutes

Streisand EffectThis is good: Boston neurosurgeon Sagun Tuli reportedly sued the surviving spouse of a patient over a negative blog post. Apparently part of the action was grounded in the fact that the less-than-flattering commentary appeared on the first page of Google when searching the doctor’s name. This doctor apparently had never heard of the Streisand effect.

Doctors looking on should take away a few things:

  • You can’t control the conversation. You can start it, join it, shape it, or be upset about it. But you can’t control public dialog.
  • If negative stuff ranks high, you’re not working hard enough on your footprint. You can create your story or you can let other people create it for you. Spend your time creating amazing stuff or creating the stuff of amazing stories. It will always overshadow the drivel.
  • More people read Boston Globe feature articles than blogs.  Even more people read blog posts, comments, tweets and Facebook remarks about Boston Globe feature articles than patient blogs.
  • We draw more attention to a story when we work to have it removed.  Even when we have a strong legal case, the Streisand effect should always be considered before taking public action against an individual. This is especially true when the individual recently lost a loved one to cancer.

While I never saw the original patient post, I’m not sure that I need to.  I suspect that the threat to set the record straight had more of an impact the career of this doctor than the isolated view of any one patient.

Image via Wikipedia.

Related Articles

  • Physician Review Sites and the Streisand Effect
  • Change the Conversation
  • Cost of Care - Hard Lessons for a Young Doctor

Tagged With: Digital Footprint, Streisand Effect

Related Articles

  • Physician Review Sites and the Streisand Effect
  • Change the Conversation
  • Cost of Care - Hard Lessons for a Young Doctor

Primary Sidebar

Bryan Vartabedian, MD

Bryan Vartabedian, MD
Bryan Vartabedian is the Chief Pediatrics Officer at Texas Children’s Hospital North Austin and one of health care’s influential
voices on technology & medicine.
Learn More

Popular Articles

  • The Fate of Fired Cleveland Clinic Resident Lara Kollab
  • Cures Act Final Rule – How It Will Change Medicine
  • 12 Things About Doximity You Probably Didn’t Know
  • Should Physicians Give Their Cell Phone Number to Patients?
  • Doximity Dialer Video – Telemedicine’s Latest Power Player

Sign up for 33mail newsletter

Featured Articles

Will the Future Need Doctors?

The Rise of Medicine’s Creative Class

The Case for New Physician Literacies in the Digital Age

Doctors and the Endemic Culture of Permission

Reactive and Creative Spaces

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

Footer

What is 33 Charts?

With a mashup of curated and original content that crosses the spaces of digital health, media, communication, technology, patient experience, digital culture, and the humanities, 33 charts offers unique insight and analysis on the changing face of medicine.

Founded in 2009 as a center of community and thought leadership for the issues doctors face in a digital world, 33 charts was included in the National Library of Medicine permanent web archive in 2014.
Learn More

Foci

  • Digital culture
  • Digital Health
  • EHR/Health IT
  • Future Medicine
  • Hospitals
  • Information
  • Patients
  • Physicians
  • Process/Flow
  • Quality
  • Social/Public Media
  • Technology

Copyright © 2023 · 33 Charts · Privacy Policy