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I wrote a negative Yelp review and it made my life a nightmare

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Re: I wrote a negative Yelp review and it made my life a nightmare

#141

Post by [deleted] »

dmitrygr wrote: post #91
simonbarker87 wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Serious question that I feel I already know the answer to but, how do people afford to defend themselves if the costs are that high?!

Serious, and depressing, answer. They don't. This is why plea bargaining is rampant in America. It isn't necessarily very fair, because for many people this ends up ruining their lives. But facing the choice of POTENTIALLY going to prison for a number of years, and to jail for weeks awaiting trial, or pleading guilty to something that does not put them jail at all, they choose the latter (since a few weeks of absence…

[deleted]

Re: I wrote a negative Yelp review and it made my life a nightmare

#142

Post by grimgrin »

pliftkl wrote: post #139

A better headline might read "I wrote a review on Yelp in which I accused a doctor of committing insurance fraud on other patients that I had no actual knowledge of, and it made my life a nightmare". Courts have established that you can write negative reviews and that they fall well within rights to freedom of speech. She isn't being sued for giving the guy a one-star review and saying "This place sucks". There's one…

Hold on, you cut the title short.

It'd end with a comma, then "and they posted my entire medical record, bills, insurance info, home address, etc"

Re: I wrote a negative Yelp review and it made my life a nightmare

#143

Post by oliv__ »

pliftkl wrote: post #139

A better headline might read "I wrote a review on Yelp in which I accused a doctor of committing insurance fraud on other patients that I had no actual knowledge of, and it made my life a nightmare". Courts have established that you can write negative reviews and that they fall well within rights to freedom of speech. She isn't being sued for giving the guy a one-star review and saying "This place sucks". There's one…

Well, if it happens to one patient, how likely is it that this is common practice?

Also, she started the sentence with "I suspect", which is very different from a plain accusation.

Re: I wrote a negative Yelp review and it made my life a nightmare

#144

Post by siphor »

SolarNet wrote: post #98
Nadya wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Wow. That violates HIPAA law. The counter-sue is going to be huge. Basically an open and shut case too. Assuming they were smart enough to "correct" the mistake it may not be a Tier 4 ($50,000+) violation, but instead a Tier 3 violation ($10,000 - $50,000 per violation) of willful neglect. I'm not sure if each violation above would be considered a single large violation or multiple small violations ( 1 violation vs…

The quote is taken out of context I think (this is a tabloid) the doctor probably posted the information to the court docket under seal at the request of the judge or at least probably in accordance with the law.

I just went through the documents and that doesn't seem to be the case... Doc #43 is a request to the judge to remove Doc #24 due to HIPPA violations. Doc #24s not there anymore. Pretty interesting, and the tabloid seems to be accurate.

The most damning thing in there was that the Doctor tested for HHV-6 (something 100% of humans have) and then charged for it and claimed it was HHV-2 (genital herpes). Theres apparently a lab technician available to testify that the Doctor commonly tests for HHV-6. Guy seems sleazy

Re: I wrote a negative Yelp review and it made my life a nightmare

#145

Post by reaperducer »

ssijak wrote: post #45

One thing that sticks to me when I read such articles (I am not from US) is how ridiculously pricey medical services are. Common, 1k$ for a regular exam that costs like 20euros in my country in private clinics?! And I read about this ridiculous prices US so often that I am dumbstruck that people are cool with it. Another thing that struck me is that if you don`t have money, evil people can just silence you by suing y…

>Common, 1k$ for a regular exam that costs like 20euros in my country in private clinics?!

I don't know where you get US$1k for a regular exam, but that is wrong.

My doctor, for example, charges a base (list/MSRP/whatever) rate of $120-$180 for a regular exam.

The "negotiated" rate with the insurance company is $80.

The amount I pay, as a patient, is $10.

If you don't have insurance (for a while I didn't), he charges $50.

$1k for a regular exam is fiction.

Re: I wrote a negative Yelp review and it made my life a nightmare

#146

Post by MereInterest »

HeyLaughingBoy wrote: post #131
amelius wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And another question: why is the market failing here?

The market isn't failing; that's the market rate!

The market is not failing to determine a market rate. The market is certainly failing to provide equal access to the legal system.

Re: I wrote a negative Yelp review and it made my life a nightmare

#147

Post by RandallBrown »

blanderman wrote: post #106
Fej wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps not exactly. But of all the tabloids, the NY Post has to be one of the most reputable.

I contend that all tabloids are disreputable.

Well technically tabloids are just newspapers of a certain size.

Re: I wrote a negative Yelp review and it made my life a nightmare

#148

Post by TAForObvReasons »

imbur wrote: post #85
ballenf wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's fine but they don't have to pay until after the case and appeals. Meaning you have to be able to front the litigation costs in order to have a chance at recovering them. There is a non-zero risk of losing. I would suggest using a pseudonym and VPN for any review written on a potentially litigious business unless you have the funds to litigate. Problem is Yelp is much more likely to mark the review as spam.

Many lawyers will take anti-slapp cases on contingency so you don't have to pay up front either

> "They posted my entire medical record, including notes about my mental health, my bills, my insurance info, my driver’s license, birth date and home address,"

We are hearing one side of the story here. HIPAA violations have teeth -- potentially 10 years imprisonment for intentional leaks for personal gain -- so a vindictive public action is highly unlikely, and certainly some lawyers would take the case on spec. Especially if personal information like driver's license info and home address were leaked.

What likely happened is this quip triggered the mess:

> “I suspect that this doctor gives unnecessary procedure [sic] to a lot of people and then charges the insurance sky high prices and no one knows the difference.

Levine is accusing Song of health care and medical insurance fraud. While there's some ambiguity regarding "unnecessary procedures", insurance fraud is a crime and arguably Levine is accusing Song of criminal behavior

Re: I wrote a negative Yelp review and it made my life a nightmare

#149

Post by DiabloD3 »

4ad wrote: post #117
skj wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yelp's customers are the business owners.

Yelp exists only because people trust it.

Given how many times "Google is evil because it destroyed Yelp (not because Yelp is a trainwreck)" headlines cross the HN front page, arguably, no one trusts Yelp.

Re: I wrote a negative Yelp review and it made my life a nightmare

#150

Post by Nadya »

TAForObvReasons wrote: post #148
imbur wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many lawyers will take anti-slapp cases on contingency so you don't have to pay up front either

> "They posted my entire medical record, including notes about my mental health, my bills, my insurance info, my driver’s license, birth date and home address," We are hearing one side of the story here. HIPAA violations have teeth -- potentially 10 years imprisonment for intentional leaks for personal gain -- so a vindictive public action is highly unlikely, and certainly some lawyers would take the case on spec. Es…

Another user, Siphor, went through the documents in a response on another thread [0]. I think the second paragraph adds some important context, especially in regards to the accusations of Mr. Song committing insurance fraud.

>The most damning thing in there was that the Doctor tested for HHV-6 (something 100% of humans have) and then charged for it and claimed it was HHV-2 (genital herpes). Theres apparently a lab technician available to testify that the Doctor commonly tests for HHV-6. Guy seems sleazy.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17182181

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