Patients should be careful about what they say about their health care providers, as an unsuspecting jazz club singer from Scottsdale Arizona recently found out.

Dr Albert Carlotti and his wife Michelle, also a doctor, operate the Dessert Palms Surgical Group (which has a Facebook page featuring a picture of the Carlottis with Mohammed Ali).

Scottsdale jazz singer Sherrie Petta had cosmetic surgery on her nose and other treatment performed at the Dessert Palms Surgical Centre in 2007. She developed a subsequent infection which she blamed on the Carlottis. She took her frustrations that one step further by setting up a website critical of the Carlottis and the treatment that she received. The Carlottis were successful in obtaining an order that Ms Petta take down the site. The cyber attack did not stop there however as Ms Petta subsequently filed a complaint with the Medical Board and posted items about the Carlottis on various doctor-review websites. The Carlottis sued Ms Petta for defamation.

On 17 December 2011 a jury awarded Mr and Mrs Carlotti $11million in damages for damage to reputation and loss of business and $1million in punative damages. Dr Albert Carlotti is reported as saying that he was put in a bind faced by many doctors whose patients post reviews (often anonymously) online which doctors cannot respond to in most cases because they must abide by patient confidentiality rules.

Responding to online posts made by patients should be an issue picked up by a health care organisation's social media policy. Such policies are becoming increasingly important and ought to cover issues from the use of social media at work, standards of professional conduct on social media, prohibitions on disclosing patient information and the like.

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Read more at Mondaq.

This story highlights the importance of organisations having an effective social media policy - and ensuring that all employees are aware of the policy. If you would like more information on policy creation and/or training, contact PolicyPoint for a confidential review of your organisation's policy platforms.