I just finished reading a news article and all I can say is, what are they hiding? Have any of you ever checked out the websites that let people rate their personal experiences with doctors? I have and I have found them very informative. I don't base my final decision on those ratings, but they do play a part in my choices. Let's face it, every doctor is going to get a bad review now and then. The patient may have been cranky or the doctor's office was extremely busy or something like that. But when people consistently rate a doctor as bad then I think that raises red flags.
It would seem some doctors are so upset about this practice of online ratings that they are now making their patients sign waivers saying that they won't rate their visit on the internet before they will be treated. Hello? Does this shout DANGER to anyone else? Apparently, these waivers are the brain child of some neurologist who started a website where the doctors can print up the waivers. Once signed, the waivers are registered with this site that then monitors the ratings sites to be sure you don't violate the waiver. Our doctors are spying on us and what we do!
This site is also encouraging these doctors to refuse to treat anyone who refuses to sign the waiver and make them find another doctor. If a doctor asked me to sign a waiver, that would be an immediate red flag to me that something was wrong with this doctor. If the doctor is confident in their abilities they won't fear what you rate them as online. In fact, the majority of doctors I've seen rated have all had really high ratings. If a doctor asked me to sign a waiver, my first thought would be what don't they want me to know? What are they hiding? No I would never sign a waiver giving up my first amendment right to free speech. And if they refused to treat me for now doing so, yes I would sue.
There are some doctors now who do virtual diagnosing online nowadays. The technology is there for them to use and they are using it. You can't take advantage of the technology for your own purposes than refuse to let the rest of us do so. This is the ultimate in hypocrisy and sheer stupidity. I personally have the best doctor in the world. I absolutely adore her and give her ten stars and I am saying that online! I have rated her on those websites and given her the highest rating I can. And she has never asked me to sign a waiver! The whole news article can be found at http://cbs3.com/health/medical.justice.online.2.951820.html if you'd like to read the entire thing yourself.
I believe strongly in the freedoms of this country. What some doctors are doing by making you sign a waiver or they won't treat you is just wrong to me. I'm truly disgusted by this. I will NEVER under any circumstances sign a waiver saying I won't let the world know if they I feel they are a bad doctor. I don't base my ratings on them being busy and so the service is slow, or my being in a bad mood. I base my ratings on whether they caused my condition to become worse. And that is the only thing I look for when I check out other people's ratings. This waiver business is just disgusting!
2 comments:
There are so many doctors out there who are more worried about their insurance carriers finding out just how incompetent they really are, when they should be pursuing courses to improve those weak skills.
The World is a rapidly changing place, and with competition out there, refusing to treat someone because of a waiver seems to me foolish in today's economic atmosphere. Doctor's cannot, nor should they have a monopoly on such things. They already force you to pay them to get copies of YOUR medical records. They already penalize you if you are more than fifteen minutes late for your appointment while fully expecting you to understand when they finally hustle you into their examining room an HOUR after your scheduled appointment time.
So, Docs, give us SOME rights...and the most important should be rating your effectiveness so others can make informed choices.
The medical field is very quick to tell us it is a BUSINESS...well, then we consumers have a right to investigate and critqué your business.
Given the hoops I have had to jump through with my seizures, I am not at all surprised that the waiver idea came about from a neurologist. I have yet to find a neurologist who is more interested in caring for their patients than in making a profit. And naturally, they wouldn't want new patients to know just how bad they are.
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