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Consumer News & Alerts | March 9, 2009 By Martin H. Bosworth ConsumerAffairs.Com <http://consumeraffairs.list-manage.com/track/click?u=48290de6249ef2cecba9fe5de&id=188dc4e22b&e=caf2257758>DOCTORS GAGGING PATIENTS [] Imagine getting a bad treatment or wrong diagnosis from a physician and not being able to tell anyone about it. That's the scenario engineered by Medical Justice, a company that provides member physicians with forms that place patients under a "gag rule," forbidding them from posting any complaints about their doctor online, and encouraging doctors to withhold treatment from patients if they refuse to sign. While Medical Justice claims it's protecting physicians from frivolous lawsuits, opponents of the practice claim it robs patients of their First Amendment right to free speech. <http://consumeraffairs.list-manage.com/track/click?u=48290de6249ef2cecba9fe5de&id=4b965c99d8&e=caf2257758>Read more... And, by the way, ConsumerAffairs.com's chieftains threw aside their Kindles and raced to their keyboards upon hearing of this attempt at prior restraint. "In an excess of professional courtesy, we have not routinely published complaints about doctors and dentists," began a memo from our muckraker-in-chief, who proclaimed that policy immediately inoperative. See the early results at <http://consumeraffairs.list-manage.com/track/click?u=48290de6249ef2cecba9fe5de&id=30f7d3f1e1&e=caf2257758>ConsumerAffairs.com/doctors/. Next week: We start drilling dentists. "It's rather disingenuous for Medical Justice to claim that its Stalin-era tactics will magically immunize doctors against malpractice lawsuits," said ConsumerAffairs.com President James R. Hood. "Posting a review on a Web site is not the same thing as a lawsuit last time I checked. In fact, stifling free and open comment is the fastest way I know of to drive angry and anguished patients into the courtroom." "Everyone is fair game for fair comment these days," said Hood, himself a noted lawsuit magnet. "Doctors no longer float angelically on a cloud and they might as well get used to it. Everyone has rights in a free society, not just doctors, drug companies and their lobbyists." <http://consumeraffairs.list-manage.com/track/click?u=48290de6249ef2cecba9fe5de&id=e95f09e66c&e=caf2257758>SUPREME COURT REAFFIRMS RIGHT TO SUE DRUG COMPANIES Doctors who think they should be above the law should note that consumers scored a big win this week when the Supreme Court ruled that federal law did not prohibit plaintiffs from suing pharmaceutical companies in state court. The court ruled 6-3 that Diana Levine had the right to sue Wyeth Pharmaceuticals when an incorrectly applied injection of the company's drug led to her arm being amputated due to gangrene, ending her career as a guitarist. Wyeth had argued that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had certified the drug as safe, precluding any lawsuits at the state level, but writing for the majority, Justice John Paul Stevens reiterated that Congress would not regularly preempt state law, and neither would the Court. <http://consumeraffairs.list-manage.com/track/click?u=48290de6249ef2cecba9fe5de&id=494c81d649&e=caf2257758>Read more... ConsumerAffairs.com Inc., 11400 West Olympic Blvd., Suite 200, Los Angeles, CA 90064 Copyright 2008 © ConsumerAffairs.com Inc. All Rights Reserved --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Please note that I do not send or open attachments sent to this list. You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Catholics on Fire" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Catholics-on-Fire May the blessing of Jesus and our Blessed Mother be with you -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
