PS Wanted Me To Sign An Agreement not to Blog or Post About Him

I had a PS consult today, and am questioning something that made me uncomfortable.  The surgeon, who I thought was highly regarded, had a form that he requires patients to sign saying that they will not publicly blog or post a review of him by name on the internet.  It went on to explain about the amount of money the practice spends in marketing and maintaining their reputation, and that someone posting about him could cause damages and he would take patients to court if they did that.

???

Anyone else run into this?  I dont know how common it is but I do not think I can choose this surgeon now.

That would make me go "hmm" too.

I had plastics several months ago, and the plastic surgeon and I talked about some the the things I'd read about him online (like he could be too conservative with lipo) and he was flattered we discussed his work and shared pictures. He felt it was free advertising. It seems a good surgeon would be happy to have have the good word of mouth advertising.

Wow, I would look for another surgeon - you have to wonder what prompted this? If you refused to sign would he refuse to operate? Did you pay to see him? If so I would request a refund.
 
I saw three highly regarded plastic surgeons prior to my reconstructive surgery and none had that requirement. I wouldn't want to give away my rights to have that option if I felt I needed to blog.

This would make me uncomfortable.  Enough so that I would seek another surgeon.

That being said, everything I've written about my difficult surgery journey has been written in such a way that I imagine he'll read it.   Actually, I hope he does read it.  He's done the best job in a difficult situation. I don't think he'd use me as a referral, but he could, because I'd tell the truth about his skills and caring bedside manner.

We need to be informed and this is how we've chosen to communicate.  Positive and negative.

I would not choose a surgeon based on one person's review or opinion, either positive or negative, just take a closer look. 

 

I wouldnt sign it, look for another PS and try to find something about him online, if he is anygood why would he be worried about what u could say
Susan

This would make me uncomfortable too. It's like he's trying to hide something.

I just had my surgery and I would not sign that. If you have a complication, it would be an awful feeling not to be able to discuss it online. 

"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on."
-Winston Chrichill

This practice of "agreeing to no blogs or reviews" was written about in one of our journals recently, and has been talked about at meetings a lot.

You can't restrict a person from saying anything about another person or business that is true.  Its a First Amendment thing.  There have been instances of infividuals creating entire websites and really going "on a mission" to not only detail their experiences, but also to damage the physician's reputation and practice.

This is not an illegal practice and a physician has no way to have these things removed, so the idea was presented to agree to no feedback, good or bad, being left.

My personal opinion is that every doctor is going to have good and bad reviews, and that most patients are not going to base their choices on a single bad review but rather on a pattern.

The internet and social media are really kind of scary like this, though, and it's a two edged sword. 

I'm glad that DrL responded because I think this puts the situation into a different light. It may very well be that this is an excellent plastic surgeon who thought he was doing the right thing to protect his reputation. I would treat him like any other surgeon - do your research carefully before choosing.

If I were to decide to use this surgeon I would not sign such a document. I suspect that this may be a trend that won't survive if patients refuse to sign or change Drs.