

Women Who Left Bad Online Reviews of Plastic Surgeon Being Sued - AaronM
http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/plastic-surgeon-jay-pensler-sues-patients-for-bad-online-reviews/19725863

======
sph
Apparently the doctor hasn't heard of the Streisand effect
(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect>).

Beyond the fact that the doctor's action is going to have the opposite effect
of what he wants, there's a bigger issue. The rise of "reputation" sites like
Yelp presents us with new challenges. Previously, it was a bit easier to
manage one's reputation. A past bad act or customer complaint wouldn't be
immortalized forever on the internet. Even our own postings get archived for
anyone in the future to see (and people are starting to care about what they
post on sites like Facebook).

On one hand, this is problematic if the statements are libelous (and I'm not
saying that they are in this case, but libelous statements do happen). The
Streisand effect means, to an extent, that we don't want to draw attention to
libelous things said about us since it will bring more attention to them.
Whether the claim is true or false, fighting it might bring us greater harm.
And some statements are untrue.

On the other hand, this might change the way we view people. Right now, we
tend to think that a (singular) bad mark is indicative of a pattern. The
thought is that if someone was arrested once, they likely did many other bad
acts that they weren't caught for. Likewise, a few embarrassing photos on
Facebook are sometimes thought of as evidence that someone wouldn't be a good
hire. However, if we find that more and more of our lives are documented,
maybe people will stop thinking that a blemish or two on a person's record
means that they're a bad person - it could just mean that they're human and
interacting with the world.

Personally, I wonder if this fear of documentation might be holding us back.
Someone doesn't want their failure documented and so they privately don't try
for something. Has anyone else not launched something because of fear of
criticism - criticism that would be immortalized online?

------
davidmurphy
I posted a negative review of a dentist on Yelp -- I stand by my feelings of
having a VERY bad experience -- and the guy emailed me putting me "on notice"
and demanding I remove it immediately, or else I'd be "dealing with [his]
attorney." I never did remove it, and I never did hear from his attorney. But
I felt outraged and scared (I was a few years out of college and had never
received this sort of email before), and I will admit I didn't use Yelp much
for several years, as I associated the site with risk of traumatic
experiences.

It gives me a sick feeling in my stomach and a headache just to think of all
this again.

------
stellar678
This is joke news, right?

From the article, quoting the lawyer of one of the women being sued: "Her
breasts look terrible. I mean, I hate the way she looks. She looks so bad..."

What kind of lawyer would talk like that?

~~~
jonhendry
A lawyer doing her best to advocate for her client.

The woman complained online about a botched boob job. The lawyer would be
doing her client no favors by saying she looks great. That would only be
helping the Dr's case.

At least the lawyer's a woman.

------
netcan
I have had clients that went crazy about any hint of negativity (or what they
considered 'inconsistent with their brand') online. In some cases I brought
them reports of bloggers that mention their products with a suggestion they
send some free samples and encourage the attention. The reaction was emergency
meetings where I was asked what we could do about all this.

This doctor is not one of those cases. Seems to be a very web savy practice.
He has contributed articles, pictures and diagrams to lots of sites. It's the
kind of thing and internet marketing / SEO company would be recommending. One
of the reviews mentions being convinced to choose him due to his web presence.
I would not be surprised if a lot of his business comes this way. Of surgeons
in his area, he's probably one of the prominent online.
[http://www.google.com.au/images?um=1&hl=en&safe=off&...](http://www.google.com.au/images?um=1&hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-
US:official&biw=1280&bih=667&tbs=isch:1&btnG=Search&aq=f&aqi=&oq=&gs_rfai=&q=Jay%20Pensler%20results)

Now google him, and it's bad news. I would be surprised if his phone isn't
ringing a lot less.

------
karzeem
Doctors aren't used to being reviewed in this way, so some are only going to
go into this new world kicking and screaming.

The good news is that it's very hard to win a libel judgement against somebody
in the U.S. — as far as I know, you have to show that somebody said something
they knew to be false and did so with the malicious intent of harming you.

------
Tycho
_facepalm_

Can you imagine sitting in the hospital waiting room ready for surgery, when
you decide to whip out the smartphone and look up your surgeon on Yelp? It's
like something out of Monty Python

------
corin_
I'd just like to take this opportunity to thank Americans for the "I'm gonna
sue you!" culture that's slowly seeping into the UK.

~~~
adammichaelc
An interesting thing to say since America's legal tradition is adapted
directly from the UK's. Suing people is actually a good thing, when you
consider that the alternative (before suing was an option) is a physical
altercation of some kind or at least a physical threat (ie Since you did this
to me I'm going to kill/steal-from/otherwise-injure-you).

~~~
corin_
The concept of sueing is great. It's the modern culture of it that's horrible.
Adverts on TV screaming "DID YOU SLIP OVER AT WORK BECAUSE YOU'RE A MORON? SUE
YOUR COMPANY!!", it's lovely.

~~~
ubernostrum
I've never seen one of those.

All the ones I see are for lawyers who do class-action suits against companies
that used asbestos or other dangerous materials, or pharmaceutical companies
which released drugs with undisclosed/unknown serious side effects.

Both of which, honestly, should be fair game for lawsuits.

~~~
zcid
Class action lawsuits rarely provide more than a pittance to the aggrieved,
the settlement is usually a slap on the wrist to the offending party, and the
lawyers in charge of the case make out like bandits.

I fail to see how this contributes any benefits to our society.

~~~
anamax
Those lawyers are a huge source of donations for one of the political parties.

They also engage in conspicuous consumption. Do you really want to reduce
demand for BMWs?

