Until last week East London GP
Dr. Arvind Madan held the prestigious post of Director of Primary Care for NHS
England. Charged with providing clinical leadership for the transformation of
primary care provision, Dr. Madan was effectively the most senior GP in the
country. Not anymore. Following revelations that he had created the online
profile ‘Devil’s Advocate’ and had repeatedly posted comments that were highly
critical of GPs on a widely read medical online publication; Dr. Madan has abruptly resigned his post.
While there is no evidence that
his posts were defamatory or amounted to an invasion of privacy, the case is
interesting because it raises important issues about how we can tackle social
media abuse and trolling. Negative comments posted online have huge potential
to damage both the personal and commercial interests of our clients. Dr.
Madan’s case shows that what we post and share online is under scrutiny as
never before.
HOW WAS DR. MADAN’S ONLINE
IDENTITY REVEALED?
The Pulse is an online news platform used by GPs
and medical professionals to discuss issues of concern, including the
development and organisation of GP practices across the country. One poster
‘Devil’s Advocate’ repeatedly commented negatively about the structure of GP
surgeries and working practices. Among the suggestions made were that doctors
should be pleased to see small practices shut down.
Devils Advocate also exhorted
GPs to think about the public’s reaction to doctors earning six figure salaries
for working four-day weeks without carrying out any on call duties. Readers
of The
Pulsewere incensed by the comments and had already begun to piece
together clues suggesting ‘Devil’s Advocate’ was in fact Dr. Madan. The Dr.then
gave a formal interview in his role as NHS Director to The Pulse that
appeared to closely resemble Devil’s Advocates views. Shortly afterwards, Dr.
Madan resigned – admitting that he had indeed posted anonymously on The Pulse.
YOUR LEGAL OPTIONS WHEN FACED
WITH DAMAGING ONLINE CONTENT
Dr. Madan’s case is
unusual. The
Pulse readership guessed his identity and he was left with no
option but to resign and apologise for the comments. Any damage his comments
may have done to the profession was quickly minimised. But we encounter many
cases where material is posted anonymously that is defamatory, breaches privacy
or is in some other way damaging to a client. When there is no way of knowing
who is responsible for the comments and it is difficult to secure the quick
removal of the material, clients can be negatively impacted commercially and
personally.
As GP agreement lawyers Nath Solicitors in London can help
you quickly get to grips with the fallout of damaging material posted online.
For example:
·
- · We may approach posters (if known) to secure voluntary removal of objectionable content
- · By informally approaching third parties such as Twitter and Facebook to request removal of material on their sites
- · Where you do not know the identity of the online poster we can request online platforms to provide us with the identity of the poster so that we can take legal action against a named party
- · By using a Norwich Pharma Order to oblige a third party to identify someone who has undermined your legal position. Again this will enable us to pursue legal action against that individual
At Nath we are employment agreement lawyer, advise individuals and
companies from the UK and overseas on defamation, privacy and related issues.
Less public tolerance of
unacceptable online behavior means many online platforms and publishers are
more receptive to an approach from us concerning objectionable material.
As a result we are often able to
resolve your online defamation and privacy concerns speedily and without
recourse to the courts. For more information please call us on +44 (0) 203
670 5540 or contact us online.
