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You’ve probably heard about the pediatric dentist who is suing the parents of an ex-patient because of defamatory comments posted at Yelp.com. The Internet has gotten so large so fast, our legal system can’t keep up. US courts are trying to establish laws for just about everything online – from copyright issues to defamation. The case of Dr. Yvonne Wong vs Tai Jing and Jia Ma was filed in Santa Clara County, California. (Dr. Wong is in Foster City). The disgruntled parents of a patient posted accusations on Yelp about Dr. Wong. When Dr. Wong contacted Yelp to have the comments removed, she was informed that only the poster or a court order could make it happen. So she filed suit in December, and since then, her life has been filled with unwanted publicity. The question DentalBlogs wants to answer for you is: How can dentists avoid this type of legal situation?

Truth is, you can’t. But it’s good to know the facts.

According to a post last Friday (Jan. 23) on Consumerist.com, blogger Alex Chasik tells us that “defamation is a false statement of fact, about the plaintiff, that is publicized to a third party, and causes some injury to the plaintiff.” He goes on to explain that verbal defamation is called slander. If you find patient’s online post about you to be untrue, and you can prove this with facts, you have a case for defamation. Keep in mind, though, if the statement made is opinion, and not a contradiction to provable facts, you probably have no case.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle (SFGate.com), Tai Jing (T.J. in the original post) claimed that her son felt lightheaded after laughing gas was administered, and that the amalgam filling Dr. Wong placed contained mercury. Dr. Wong’s lawyer, John Terbeek, claims that the patient’s parents signed a consent regarding the mercury fillings. A total of three claims were made by the patient’s parent(s).

So what happened to Yelp? Nothing. Mr. Terbeek (the lawyer for Dr. Wong) dropped charges against Yelp because he learned that websites that publish third-party information are protected under US law.

A similar case among a chiropractor, Yelp, and unhappy patients was recently settled. Details are confidential and a statement/apology was posted on Yelp.

Read more about defamation at Wikipedia.com.

SOURCES: DrBicuspid.com; Consumerist.com, San Francisco Chronicle