Doctor sues patient’s family — and everybody loses
Filed under: Communication, Ethics, Healthcare Legal & Compliance, Patient/Client Communication, Special Report
A recipe for disaster: Patient’s son complains about a doctor’s bedside manner online. Doctor sues patient’s family for defamation. And nobody wins.
Dr. David McKee, a neurologist with Northland Neurology and Myology, Duluth, Minnesota, filed a lawsuit against Dennis Laurion, alleging he had made untrue and defamatory statements about the doctor’s treatment of Laurion’s father.
Laurion had filed complaints about McKee with several organizations, including St. Luke’s Hospital, the St. Louis County Public Health and Human Services Advisory Committee, the American Academy of Neurology, the American Neurological Association, as well as other local health care professionals. The complaints were lodged with a total of 19 different agencies, regulatory bodies and health-related websites. McKee claimed that many of the comments were made by Laurion using false names, or attributing the complaints to third-parties.
Laurion’s complaints about McKee included that he:
- acted angry after Laurion’s father was transferred from intensive care to another unit
- told the family that he had to spend time finding out if Laurion’s father had been transferred or died
- said 44% of hemorrhagic stroke victims die within 30 days, and
- was unconcerned that the patient’s gown at one point was hanging in such a way that his rear was exposed.
In his response to the suit, Laurion claimed the statements were true, and therefore, not defamatory.
A judge tossed the case, saying there wasn’t enough objective information available to ask a jury to weigh whether the accusations were defamatory. He noted that while the issues raised were driven by emotion, patients and their families are entitled to take to the web and other media to air their complaints.
At the time of publication, McKee said he hadn’t decided if he would appeal.
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
Comments
4 Comments on Doctor sues patient’s family — and everybody loses
-
Reddit Reader on
Thu, 19th May 2011 2:46 am
-
Carol Katarsky on
Thu, 19th May 2011 9:56 am
-
Noah V on
Sat, 2nd Jul 2011 4:02 am
-
Reddit Reader on
Sat, 17th Sep 2011 3:08 am
Your link to the newspaper article is broken, but the court order can be seen at:
Thanks. I’ve fixed the link.
The doctor is appealing the dismissal according to:
The Minnesota Court Of Appeals has scheduled David McKee MD v Dennis Laurion for a hearing by a panel of three judges. The oral hearing will be November 10, 2011, at 10:00 AM in the Sixth District Court House of Duluth.
Tell me what you're thinking...
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!
Special Report
-
CMS bestows first Healthcare Innovation Awards
A recipe for disaster: Patient’s son complains about a doctor’s bedside manner online. Doctor sues patient’s family for defamation. And nobody wins. Dr. David McKee, a neurologist with Northland Neurology and Myology, Duluth, Minnesota, filed a lawsuit against Dennis Laurion, alleging he had made untrue and defamatory statements about the [...]
-
CMS bestows first Healthcare Innovation Awards