Dentist Sues Writer of Negative Online Yelp Review

by Dan Reilly on March 24, 2009 at 03:32 PM

Have you ever given someone or some business a bad review online? Well, you'd better keep what you write in check, or else you could end up getting sued like the California couple who bashed a dentist on Yelp.

Dr. Yvonne Wong, the dentist, is going forward with a lawsuit against Tai Jing and Jia Ma for libel and emotional distress after a court ruled that she had enough grounds for a case, or, as they put it, "a probability of success on the merits." In a user comment, the couple accused Wong of giving their four-year-old son a filling that contained mercury and of making him lightheaded from anesthetic gas. Wong's lawyers say that the parents' review makes it seem like she did so without their consent.

Jing and Ma tried to get the suit thrown out, citing a California law that bans anyone from preventing discussion of matters of public importance. We'd agree that mercury fillings should be examined, but we also understand why the judge didn't buy their argument. Wong, for her part, also tried to sue Yelp, but that went nowhere, as the federal Communications Decency Act protects sites from any lawsuits due to user comments.

While we don't know the specifics of what happened, we do think that there should be limits to what you can get away with on the Web. Free speech is a great thing, we know, but that doesn't mean you can say anything about anyone for any reason without consequences. [From: MediaPost]

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Tags: dentistry, health, lawsuit, lawsuits, libel, medicine, yelp

Comments

Randall GrahamMar 24th 2009 5:33PM

Neutral

Why would you "agree that mercury fillings should be examined"? You are insinuating that there is something wrong with the use of (more correctly) silver fillings when there is absolutely no scientific evidence of that, and multiple dozens of studies to debunk that belief. Your comments are as unfair and misleading as the ones you report about.

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MikeMar 24th 2009 6:52PM

Neutral

Want to read if mercury is good for you? It is not. If I was asked I would ask for other options...don't know this case to comment on them...but don't be dumb about mercury use.

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radfarApr 4th 2010 12:22AM

Neutral

You're an idiot. Are you a dentist? Read the articles of how the level of mercury goes up in your blood right after the silver filling is put in. The FDA has now recommended that alternatives be given to silver fillngs. I had one patient measure their blood mercury level before silver filling were removed and after and her levels dropped after 2 weeks. No material is perfect but consider the child and anything we give a child should have no mercury. You say it's safe well no level of mercury is safe period.

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COCOMar 24th 2009 5:37PM

Neutral

Dr. Yvonne Wong, the dentist is not wrong :) However, it seems, Tai Jing is looking for a little jing-a-ling in his pocket:) Sorry, I couldn't resist.

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cflcityMar 24th 2009 8:45PM

Neutral

The patient's parents is not looking for any money, the dentist is sueing for more money from the patient's parents. The dentist is already lucky enough not to get sued. I can see America going into a socialist society. The family could countersue that the dentist is violationg one law of the Bill of Rights...

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MarieMar 24th 2009 7:58PM

Neutral

The reason we have laws protecting people from being libeled is to protect reputations from those who would mount smear campaigns. People should not be free to hide behind screen names and other forms of anonymity to persue activities that harm others.
It's one thing to go online and start a discussion about the topic of dental practice in general. But to name a specific practitioner and accuse the person of negligence, you'd better be sure your facts will hold up if you get sued for slander.

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BarbSep 24th 2009 11:33AM

Neutral

As long as you state facts, it will be very difficult to lose in a case like this.

This dentist should be countersued for putting in dangerous mercury fillings!

Did the dentist TELL the parents she was putting in fillings with MERCURY?

Dentists do not do that anymore. It is not considered state of the art dentistry anymore.

This dentist should LOSE this case.

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martin171Sep 24th 2009 1:55PM

Neutral

Barb, that would mean that their "expert opinion" about what the dentist did was correct. And that's the key behind the whole thing. A person can say whatever they want online and people take it as the truth, unless the other party goes out of their way to prove that they did nothing wrong and the first person lied (hence the libel suit filed against the parents).

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kiddrillApr 4th 2010 7:36AM

Neutral

radfar, love the name calling.
barb, you are mistaken, on all points.
For the record (from a quick google)....."A 1993 study published in FDA Consumer found that 50% of Americans believed mercury filings caused health problems.[7] The broad lack of knowledge among the public was displayed when a December 1990 episode of the CBS news program 60 Minutes covered mercury in amalgam. This resulted in a nationwide amalgam scare, and additional research into mercury release from amalgam. The following month, Consumer Reports published an article criticizing the content of the broadcast, stating that it contained a great deal of false information and that the ADA spokesperson on the program was ill prepared to defend the claims"....
...'since the scientific data remains inconclusive and has not yet proven either safety or danger."
"The FDI World Dental Federation performed a meta-analysis of the literature on mercury toxicity and concluded that there is no documented scientific evidence to show adverse effects from mercury in amalgam restorations except in extremely rare cases of mercury hypersensitivity"
"Two recent randomized clinical trials in children [35][35] discovered no statistically significant differences in adverse neuropsychological or renal effects observed over the five-year period in children whose caries were restored using dental amalgam or composite materials"

Before you bash and insult people with name-calling, or make unfounded statements (far from your experience or educational level) at least do a little simple research and find the truth.

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