negative reviews C D A J O U R N A L , V O L 4 9 , Nº 2
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What To Do About That Negative Online Review Peter F. Finn, JD
abstract The posting of a negative online review regarding your dental treatment, office and/or staff is undoubtedly a blow that could have significant repercussions on your practice. Options for responding exist, including a brief and generic professional reply to the review itself, “flagging” the post using Yelp’s internal process or pursuing a defamation claim in court.
AUTHOR Peter F. Finn, JD, has a practice that includes advising dentists on employment and internetrelated and intellectualproperty issues and representing dentists in malpractice actions. During law school, he interned for the Employee Benefits Security Administration, part of the U.S. Department of Labor, with a focus on employment law matters. Mr. Finn is admitted to all courts, including the California Courts of Appeal. Conflict of Interest Disclosure: None reported.
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he negative online review: We have all seen them on websites such as Yelp1 when deciding what restaurant to choose for dinner, what store to shop for a particular item, what hotel to stay in on an upcoming vacation or, as is pertinent here, from what health care provider to seek a medical or dental evaluation. Indeed, most dentists have been the subject of at least one negative online review. And those who have been fortunate to escape their reach, likely will in the future. In today’s society, where traditional word-of-mouth recommendations have largely been transplanted by smartphones, social media and the internet, the harm a single negative online review can cause to a dental practice — regardless of size and longevity in the community — can be substantial, especially for those offices lacking a large number of prior reviews or an otherwise robust digital presence. An overall Yelp rating of four stars could readily slide with a single post from a disgruntled
patient, regardless of the accuracy of its content, with that one-star negative review standing out like a sore thumb when potential new patients quickly scroll through a practice’s Yelp page. The natural reaction of most people — dentists included — who see something negative written about them in any forum, especially one as public as the internet, is to want to act immediately by responding to that review to set the record straight, demanding that Yelp (or whatever website the review is on) delete the post and seeking legal recourse against the reviewer. To this end, the questions we often encounter in our legal practice include the following: ■ Should I respond to the review and correct the misstatements it contains? ■ How can I get that negative review taken down? ■ What are my legal rights in going after the reviewer for hurting my reputation? Presenting an outline of potential options, including legal risks, is the FEBRUARY 2 0 2 1
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