naming names

[Guest guest]

Lois expressed concern about mentioning names. This has come up before,

Im sure our leader will pipe in here as well.

I dont think that from a legal point of view, one should be *as* concerned

about simply saying " I find they were insensitive " or " I didnt like them " .

However, saying " Dr X is incompetent and is responsible for my current

condition " is another story. True as this may be, this might gwt one in hot

water. But Dr X would have to find this and have to care, Then would have to

press charges. IM not sure what the chances of that really are.

At the same time, I feel badly that we should not be able to say when we

know we have been treated with negligence and feel stifled in saying so.

Also, noone can ultimately prove anyone said anything on an e-mail list. If

one had doubts, one could create a compltetly fake identity using a hotmail

account and say anything one wanted. Noone would be able to link it to you.

However, perhaps the *easiest* way around this is to say " I saw some doctors

in the state of VA that I feel were poor. If anyone is considering seeing

doctors in VA PLEASE contact me directly so I can give you my opinion. I am

wondering though if this cahnges anything- if the conversation is private,

especially on e-mail, how is that different legally?

I know we must have some lawyers here who can find out what the libel law

actually is with reference to things said in an e-mail list. There may be no

current precedent for pursuit of libel based on something said online. It

would be worth investigating. I just feel there is so much repression on

this whole subject of our condition that I cringe any timesomeone starts to

get scared they are doing something wrong simply by telling it like it is.

Can we find this out?