I never go online to read what is written there about me. I suspect there is some (a lot?) of negative reviews. In general, people go online to rate doctors when they are unhappy, which makes Yelp reviews etc. biased towards the complainers. I cannot rebuke and clarify* matters as it breaks confidentiality. Lately I haven’t gone online to see the news either. Only recently I heard about the bad weather in Texas and Mr. Cruz in Mexico.** Thanks to my avoidance of social media I wasn’t aware Mr. Limbaugh had died. ***
As I write this, the sun is shining and it is 18C (mid-60s F). When I don’t’ go onto the internet, life is quiet and pleasant – my life anyway. The question arises: am I being sensible not going online looking for things or am I deluding myself? Am I better off knowing what might be said of my online? If there is a lot of negative reviews online, I see no evidence my business suffers for it. New patients have to wait weeks, sometimes months, for an appointment with me.
I always ask new patient ‘how did you find me or this place?”. Many say their GPs sent them (code: their doctors are happy with me to send me more patients) or they read something ‘good online about me’. Word of mouth seems good enough to keep me gainfully employed, surpassing what may be written in the doctors reviews.
I will leave you with this charming vignette. I once asked the usual question and I got this response: The patient explained he had gone online to get the address where I work only to be taken right to a doctor review site. He states he read a review saying I was
‘Distant, pompous, arrogant, and godlike”
He explained: since he’s heard from his loved ones he is all that, I must be the right doc for him. I was deeply touched by this complimentary thunderbolt. However, I stopped wearing to work the helmet and the eye patch.
*‘He did not listen to me’ is often code for someone wanted controlled substances and I would not give them.
**I like to go online and give Mr. Cruz a negative review. Stirge.
***Can we say this is God’s will, and it was his own damn fault for his lifestyle choices?
Spo-Reflections 
40 comments
February 18, 2021 at 12:32 PM
larrymuffin
You are very wise to not go online to read the garbage written by malcontents. Be Happy don’t Worry!
February 18, 2021 at 12:37 PM
Urspo
Indeed I don’t bother.
No point poking the bear.
February 18, 2021 at 12:33 PM
David Godfrey
I would avoid the harpies. Most of us spent too much time online. Limbaugh has tested my resolve to not speak ill of the dead.
February 18, 2021 at 12:38 PM
Urspo
Several pointed out he often spoke ill of the dead, mocking those who have died from AIDS. So I guess it is OK to say thank goodness he’s dead.
February 18, 2021 at 12:34 PM
jefferyrn
Sometimes people write glowing reviews. I don’t trust them either.
February 18, 2021 at 12:38 PM
Urspo
I don’t trust 5-star reviews either as probably ‘paid for” to pad a review site.
Best to read the 4-star reviews
February 18, 2021 at 12:59 PM
Pat
I did once out of curiosity. High-level summary: Bowties, overdressed, very smart, caring and a bit quirky. But I presume you have mirrors and some self-awareness so none of this should surprise or change you.
February 18, 2021 at 1:00 PM
Urspo
Dear me, I can’t deny any of that 🙂
February 18, 2021 at 2:26 PM
Pat
On the negative side of things, scheduling delays seemed to be a recurrent theme.Bowties also sometimes appeared in the negative column. But keep in mind these are all pychologically afflicted people not fashionistas.
February 18, 2021 at 1:47 PM
Moving with Mitchell
I love that the patient felt “distant, pompous, arrogant, and godlike” was a reason to see you. Score one for Karma.
And, to paraphrase Bette Davis, “You should never say bad things about the dead, only good… Rush Limbaugh is dead. Good.”
February 18, 2021 at 2:13 PM
Urspo
The custom of not seeing bad things about the dead is not based on tact but the belief the dead will come back to haunt you/hurt you if you bad mouth them. As most of us don’t believe such a thing it feels less dreadful to say thank goodness that sonofabitch is gone.
February 18, 2021 at 2:18 PM
Old Lurker
There is a balance here. On the one hand many reviews tell you about things you are not willing to change. But every so often people will say things you had not noticed about yourself, and that gives you opportunities to improve. I have worked in customer-facing roles and have received anonymous feedback from customers. It is not always pleasant to have my weaknesses exposed but I have changed some things in response. Also I acknowledge that there is ego at play here: I want to know how I am perceived by others, because I lack self-awareness.
The other balance is the idea that your reviews do not matter because you have a long lineup of patients. Somewhere in Silicon Valley there is a startup looking to disrupt this power imbalance. In fact, there are many such startups, but sooner or later one will succeed. Then (as the taxi medallian oligopolies and hotelliers discovered) that sense of security can evaporate quickly.
February 18, 2021 at 3:05 PM
Urspo
I always keep in mind I am expendable and I can be replaced
There are always folks I will not be able to help/will not like me.
I listen in between the lines if there is any valid tips I can use to improve myself – I hope is always to happen.
February 18, 2021 at 2:44 PM
Mary
Speaking of reviews and ratings, I looked up my son who’s been a practicing Ob/Gyn for 17 years. First of all, I was surprised that he has a website with a nice photo. There’s various sites to go to and I finally found one with reviews. They’re all good,I’m happy for all those expectant mothers, but I can’t help thinking of him as my baby boy. I don’t think the reviews matter much. Lol
February 18, 2021 at 3:06 PM
Urspo
It is curious to know whether or not these reviews (good or bad) really effect a doctor’s practice – it may hurt feelings but business? I wonder if there are studies.
February 18, 2021 at 6:54 PM
Mary
I don’t know how reviews affect a doctor’s practice. In the past year we’ve hardly seen my son because we practice social distancing because he treats patients with covid, works long hours, and is on call. He loves his job. Although covid is of major concern, he usually treats patients with a variety of contagious diseases like TB, AIDS, Hepatitis, etc. Health care workers, yourself included, really are heroes. I’ll get off my soapbox now.
February 18, 2021 at 3:07 PM
anne marie in philly
the fat drug-addicted racist sexist homophobic bastard cannot spew his vile shit any more. so let’s take a number and #restinpiss on his grave!
and ted cruz is a fat racist sexist homophobic asswipe!
we just had another 6-8″ of snow/ice today. I’d kill for some mid-60sF weather right now.
February 18, 2021 at 3:17 PM
Urspo
‘another 6-8 inches of snow’ ! oh the horror!
It seems unbelievable as I look out onto the bright blue sky with the door slightly ajar. Come check on my in July, I won’t be so grateful then.
February 18, 2021 at 3:26 PM
claudiajustsaying
Well you got people talking. I think of you as a nice guy who blogs . . just saying.
P.S. You may want to caution Anne Marie in Philly that she doesn’t have to print/say everything she thinks.
February 19, 2021 at 7:06 AM
anne marie in philly
I’ll say whatever I damn well please and you can’t stop me! who the hell are YOU to lecture ME?
February 19, 2021 at 7:28 AM
Urspo
I hope I am a nice guy who blogs, although yesterday my boss called me an Asmodeus.
February 18, 2021 at 3:44 PM
Sam
Oh, you were the messenger on Limbaugh for me just now. I feel the same about on line reviews. Hard to fully trust good or bad.
February 19, 2021 at 7:29 AM
Urspo
A place or product with tons of 5-stars is immediately seen as an object of suspicion and I avoid them.
February 18, 2021 at 3:47 PM
Pipistrello
You gave up your helmet and eye patch??
February 19, 2021 at 7:30 AM
Urspo
only at work; at home I still parade around in them – usually in my underwear, hoping for the doorbell to ring “won’t you come in? I’ve been hoping you would call!”
February 19, 2021 at 4:51 PM
Pipistrello
That’s a relief
February 18, 2021 at 4:26 PM
Debra She Who Seeks
Many, many years ago when I was a young professional, an opponent with whom I had a run-in wrote his opinion of me on the wall of the men’s bathroom down the hall from our offices. My male colleagues told me about it but wouldn’t tell me what it said, LOL! I just laughed it off and, knowing that in our dispute I had the bastard by the proverbial balls anyway, just twisted them that much harder.
February 19, 2021 at 7:30 AM
Urspo
that sounds like a nice position to be in – yours I mean, not his.
February 18, 2021 at 4:32 PM
mcpersonalspace54
There is also something called “rate my teacher” on the internet. Once I went to look and was shocked at the teachers who had reviews at my school. I never knew this existed. I was reviewed too, but not very much, thankfully. Some of the kids said really nasty things, so I vowed to never look again, and I haven’t. I also think that disgruntled people tend to write reviews more than happy customers.
February 19, 2021 at 7:31 AM
Urspo
Correct. When we are happy/OK with someone/some place we seldom go on line to say so. We go on line when not happy, to ‘revenge’ or to collect pity pats from our friends
February 18, 2021 at 5:57 PM
Linda Practical Parsimony
Before I went to the oral surgeon last fall, I looked up his reviews. I remembered him from 30 years ago as a nice young man. Well, one review was horrible. Not my memory of him. So, I went back and he was a nice older man. If anything, his bedside manner had improved. Once a doctor told me to take my daughter to the ER and warned me that a lot of people did not like the doctor there because he was hard to get along with. I needed an ER doctor so why would I judge at a moment like that? Besides, I figured I could handle him.
Many bad reviews of a certain type would lead me to go elsewhere.
February 19, 2021 at 7:32 AM
Urspo
Every doctor is going to have some bad reviews; these are the ones that get the most spotlight.
February 18, 2021 at 10:37 PM
Bohemian
Reviews I’m not sure are all that helpful since I know nothing about the people who’ve written them. I would rather receive a recommendation from someone I know and Trust about any business they have used and feel they can confidently recommend. I recently did buy something from an Online Company I’d never used before, THEN I read some Reviews, which were all so negative I wondered if perhaps I’d made a mistake ordering from this place? Turns out I had nothing to worry about, my order arrived on time, the Company kept me well informed of my order and I was delighted with it when I received it. Just goes to show that the Reviews were not at all helpful, had I read them first, I may have missed ordering products that I loved from a Company that I didn’t have the negative experiences the Reviews claimed they had.
February 19, 2021 at 7:33 AM
Urspo
Word of mouth and the support of a trusted one still beats online reviews by a country mile
February 19, 2021 at 2:03 AM
Parnassus
There is an art to reading reviews. You have to know what is important to you, and where the reviewer is coming from. For example, I have read bad reviews of books complaining that they are dry and academic. Well, this doesn’t bother me as I like a lot of academic writing. However, if a book is praised as “magical and whimsical” I know to stay away from it!
–Jim
February 19, 2021 at 7:34 AM
Urspo
You sound smart in your reading of reviews.
I know a few who like to read reviews as entertainment. Not my idea of a past time however.
February 19, 2021 at 4:39 AM
BadNoteB
Parnassus’ opening two lines should be required cautionary disclosures for every review/rating site on the internet!
As a college professor, I have been perplexed by student evaluations since entering the classroom. What is to be thought of a negative rating supported by the comment “he not only expeks you to buy the book but thinks your going to read it to”? Or the 1-star rating for “expects you to learn just to get an ‘A’ in the class”? Another amusing warning: “he actually reads and comments on your homework assignments”. Hello? Does anyone realize why we’re here and you’re mortgaging your economic future with government loans for this experience? Or is everyone so focused on maintaining a GPA that we’re forgetting to obtain an education in the process?
When tempted to be harsh toward many student evaluators, I remind myself such comments should be expected within an academic institution that publishes a 20-statement course evaluation form that fails to include “This class taught something important to my future studies and/or career.”
February 19, 2021 at 7:35 AM
Urspo
Reviews are basically useless as they are biased towards the negative and these types are not interested in improving things but venting.
February 19, 2021 at 6:18 AM
wickedhamster
“Distant, pompous, arrogant, and godlike,” how I wish some of my students would have said that about me. All I got was the occasional godlike from the ones who really liked me. 😢
February 19, 2021 at 7:35 AM
Urspo
You are distant, pompous, arrogant, and god like.
You’re welcome.