Abstract
As access to the internet has grown over the years, social media has become an important resource in the health care sector. Third-party physician-rating websites in particular have gained popularity. However, there are ethical implications of such websites. These websites provide a platform for patients to evaluate and review physicians and likewise increase visibility and advertisement of physicians, but they also violate the rights to privacy that these doctors should have. This paper aims to study and assess the ethical implications of these websites on the visibility and privacy of physicians. After presenting the ethical dilemma associated with such websites, it provides guidelines that can be incorporated by both physicians and third-party sites to help maintain physician privacy while providing public service in the form of advertisement and visibility.
Highlights
Social media websites have become the new norm throughout our society
In 2010, Lagu et al [7] conducted a study in which they found that 88% of Americans used the internet to search for health-related information, out of which approximately half searched for their physicians
As the internet becomes more integral to our lives and social media expands in the United States, the emerging role of physician-rating websites and their influence cannot be ignored
Summary
Social media websites have become the new norm throughout our society. Readily available, these sites allow users to contribute, retrieve, and explore content. Over 90% of physicians are noted to have their professional information available online, much of which is found on these websites [10] These websites function to provide basic information regarding individual physicians and enable users to enter and view reviews for specific physicians. Their study found that 65.4% and 52.2% of survey participants selected and rejected, respectively, a particular physician based on ratings shown on physician-rating websites Similar findings of these websites swaying public opinion in regard to physician experiences were corroborated in a later investigation by Emmert et al [12] as well.
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