Bad On-line Reviews: Dr. Hart, a cardiologist, has recently received some negative on-line reviews on the review site RATE your DR. One review stated: Dr. Hart is rude, incompetent and suffers from the god complex. I would NOT recommend him! Sally Another review read: Dr. Hart missed diagnosing my husbands serious heart condition. He is incompetentand has the personality of a paper cup! Susie Both reviewers gave him 1 out of 5 stars. Dr. Hart is embarrassed and mad about these reviews (and a few others). He thinks they are made up reviews and false. When Dr. Hart googles his name, that is one of the first things that come up! Dr. Harts business manager suggests that they just get their 20 employees to write positive reviews about Dr. Hart to balance things out (even though these employees have never been Dr. Harts patients). They also think about writing anonymous bad reviews about the other cardiologist in town (a competitor). Dr. Hart wants to find out who wrote the reviews and sue the reviewers for defamation. Dr. Hart and his business manager come to you, an attorney, for advice. What do you tell them?

What is the ethical response here?

Business response? What should they do? Should they have employees write good review for Dr. Hart? Explain. Should they write fake bad reviews about the other cardiologist? Explain.

Legal response? (Can they even identify the reviewers?) Do they have a claim for defamation against the reviewers? (See p. 134-35) What are the elements? Any defenses that might apply? Explain.