The medical blog community is abuzz with the news that blog author DrFleaBlog has been identified. Dr. Robert Lindeman was confronted on the stand by prosecution during his malpractice trial. The prosecution alleges that he is responsible for the diabetic-related death of a child in his pediatric practice.
When faced with the question of whether he was indeed the author of the blog, Dr. Lindeman admitted to it. The next day, the case was settled.
Dr. Lindeman had blogged during his trial – discussing the prosecution’s tactics, how jury members were dozing and finally revealing his defense’s strategy. I wish I had read it while it was up – all content has now been removed. I’ve been able to view some content by searching Google’s sites using their “cached” feature.
Please don’t blog about litigation. And please don’t blog about specific cases in your offices. There is a female dentist in New York that blogs regularly about treatment she provides and run-ins with her employer dentist. If I stumble across it again, I’ll definitely send her this story.
Read the Boston.com news story covering the case
Click here to read about an interview with Dr. Lindeman from 2008
Hi Tereasa,
I have been toying with the idea of using a blog as a forum for a study club. If patients names are left out, and discussion is limited to treatment/treatment planning, is that still too big of a risk? If so, then it’s best to have it password protected…
By the way, my new URL is in full swing! Goingdental.com is now fully operational.
Best,
Dan
Hey there Dan – glad your site is up and running again! I would definitely use a password to allow access to the study club. If a patient recognizes his or her case and objects, you will have trouble. I google everything nowadays – your patient may google you and come up with your site and put the pieces together.
If you don’t want to password the blog, consider informing the patient and documenting that they are okay with your discussing their case anonymously. I honestly don’t think you’ll have too many objections if you inform them up front. Hope that helps and keep checking in!
[...] With Blogger Dr. Flea Last year pediatrician Robert Lindeman blogged about defense strategy during his ongoing trial for medical malpractice. When the [...]
Hey Dan, I wouldn’t risk it. You hear too many stories of practitioners getting into trouble for the smallest of things.
Or perhaps I am watching too much Law and Order..
Maybe…you raise a point though – dentists and MD’s are pretty big targets for someone who HAS spent too much time watching Law & Order!
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Nice Blog Teresa and an interesting topic.
ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS get your patient’s permission to use any information about them on either your blog or website or for any other use. That permission needs to be in Writing. We take photos of almost all the before and after work that we do. Some is going to be satisfactory for comparative purposes for use on your website, blog, office walls, or for case books to show new patients examples of your work. When we use comparative material, I have some “concrete” rules that will keep your patients happy and allow you to show examples of your dental work. Allow these are designed for cosmetic work, they should be applicable to almost any type of dental work.
1. Always ask the patient for permission and then ask them where it is OK for you to use there photos and information. For example, some patients will be OK with their photos on your office wall, but don’t want to be exhibited on your website.
2. Always get a signed PHOTO RELEASE from the patient and explain to the patient how you plan to use the photos. On the release form make a note of any places that the patient is not comfortable having you use the photos–and don’t use them in those situations.
3. Only use full-face portraits of after photos of the patient — remember they had you change their smile, because they were not happy with it. However, it is usually not a problem to show before and after photos of just the mouth in conjuction with the new smile portrait photo. (This is one thing that some dentists will disagree with but this is our policy). Not showing the before person as full-face photos both preserves the patient’s dignity and lets you exhibit your work.
4. We almost never use the patient’s name with their photos, even if they say it is OK. We had one patient that told us that we could use her photos anyway we wanted to use them, as long as we didn’t mention her name. So, as a general rule we just don’t use names, either first or last.
Dr. Pauley – thanks so much for commenting. These are great steps to follow to protect our patients’ privacy. I know of some offices that put this release into their initial intake forms but it’s a good idea to remind them of this when you take your final pics.
Thanks for stopping in!
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