Here are two sites that provide some fascinating reading. One accepts postings on individual doctors and the other tracks mistakes made in print and online news sources.
RateMDs.com: Changing the way the world looks at medicine
RateMDs.com nets ire of Canadian physicians is a news item in the March 13, 2007 issue of CMAJ:
An American Web site that lets patients post anonymous comments about their physicians online appears to have become wildly popular in Canada in recent months. But it’s provoking both fear and threats of legal action from the medical community north of the border.
RateMDs.com allows patients to rate and read about their doctors. And it’s addictive reading. You can track doctors (all kinds of doctors) in the United States and Canada. Some of the comments are quite scandalous. According to this article in the Vancouver Sun, the Canadian Medical Association and the Canadian Medical Protective Association are not much impressed with some of the comments posted about Canadian doctors:
The Silicon Valley, Calif., operators of RateMDs.com have removed two out of the seven most scathing comments about unnamed doctors cited by the Canadian Medical Protective Association (CMPA). But they ignored all other requests made of them by that organization and the Canadian Medical Association, the latter whose chief executive officer, William Tholl, also sent a recent letter saying he echoed the concerns of CMPA. John Swapceinski, co-founder of the website, said the letters sent to him and co-founder Joanne Wong, were meant to be intimidating but, ”I’ve developed a very thick skin since we first started this business.”
Regret the Error: Mistakes happen
Regret The Error reports on corrections, retractions, clarifications and trends regarding accuracy and honesty in the media.
Imagine someone spending hours every day tracking mistakes in the media (newspapers, print and online) and providing links to those that have corrections pages, and those that don’t. It makes for some interesting reading. There are all kinds of special features, such as the 2005 Plagiarism Round-Up.
Filed under: Friday Fun, Patient Care |
ANNE T.- V.'s BLOG 
Doctor rating websites aren’t bad for doctors. It helps doctors to get as much information into the public domain as possible. I started the http://www.DrScore.com online doctor rating website. Many doctors send their patients to the site, asking their patients to do the ratings. First, it’s an easy way to get patient satisfaction feedback. Secondly, getting representative information into the public domain on the quality of medical care given by physicians will help show what a great job doctors are actually doing.