Following are highlights from a recent Peer POV podcast interview with Dr. MedLaw. Let’s talk about dealing with negative online reviews. What do you do when you’re angry? How do you avoid making the situation worse?

Under the Communications Decency Act, the website is immune for what third parties post. You should not have a lawyer send the person a demand letter insisting that the post be removed. At best, there will be another post describing how you tried to bully them, and the demand letter will go viral. At worst, there could be a complaint to your state board for harassment and for trying to impede a patient’s right to engage in public speech on healthcare.

That leaves writing your own response. If the comment cannot be answered cleanly without revealing personal health information, your best bet is to let it go. Let it be swallowed by the many positive comments and your overall excellent rating.

But is there ever a role for contacting a patient who posts negatively online? The answer to that is a very caveated “yes.”

If the patient has posted about a legitimate issue—even in a volatile way—then it’s worth your corrective attention, which can include contacting the patient. However, this must clearly be done to accept the criticism rather than trying to get the comment taken down. The latter could be viewed as overweening by the party with greater power (you) if the patient then makes a harassment complaint to your state board. If you decide to contact the patient who posted, leave the online site and contact them privately. Do it in writing so there is proof of what you said. State that you were unaware of the problem, apologize for any inconvenience, and say you’ll be taking steps to correct the issue that they raised. Then, thank the poster for bringing the matter to your attention, and urge them to contact you directly if there’s another issue in the future.

The implication will be to not post online again, but it will be within the offer of a better alternative, not an attempt to silence them from criticizing your practice. Do not ask expressly for a takedown. Remember that a future evaluator needs to see this solely as good practice in the face of an error, not a non-apology to pressure the patient.