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CDS Member News and ArticlesProfessional News Articles : : MAKING THE CASE by John Green, DDS, JD : Pick up the phone, not the mouse! Pick up the phone, not the mouse!January 6, 2010 E-mailing has become a convenient and efficient way of communicating. However, e-mails can be dangerous. What you put in an e-mail today will be around for a long time. Just ask Tiger Woods. Many dental offices communicate with their patients through their websites or e-mail addresses. Using such technology is an easy and time-saving way to confirm appointments and to exchange non-clinical information with patients. However, an increasing number of dentists use e-mail, instead of phone calls, to respond to patients’ complaints. Doing so may put a dentist at risk in the following ways: You may say things in an e-mail to a patient that you would not say in person or over the phone. In representing dentists over the years, I have seen dentists in e-mails calling their patients a “liar” or a “nut case” or worse. If a lawsuit should evolve, the patient’s attorney would love to show a jury an e-mail with unprofessional comments by the dentist. Exchanging angry e-mails with a patient never solves the problem. In all my years as a defense attorney, I have never seen a patient, after receiving a confrontational e-mail from a dentist, come to an epiphany that the dentist is right and the patient is wrong. Instead, the e-mails usually escalate the emotions on both sides, which never leads to a peaceful resolution. A dentist may say something in an e-mail that is not dentally or factually correct. In an attempt to persuade the patient to see his or her side of the story, a dentist may say things that are completely wrong. For instance, I have seen an e-mail from a dentist who stated that “over 50 percent of root canals fail” to explain away poorly done endodontic treatment. Such a statement by a dentist is not only incorrect, but may make it impossible for a defense attorney to obtain an expert witness to defend such a statement. Resist the temptation to e-mail a patient in response to a disagreement over treatment. Instead, pick up the telephone to personally contact the patient; better yet, schedule an appointment so that you can have a face-to-face discussion with the patient. Sure, e-mailing avoids the discomfort of listening to an irate patient; however, a telephone call or a meeting with the patient is a far more effective means of settling financial disputes or dealing with clinical complications. The next time a patient contacts you complaining about that dental implant, pick up the phone -- not the mouse. John M. Green, DDS, JD, is a practicing dentist and defense attorney who has been representing dentists and dental specialists for 17 years. Contact Dr. Green at 312.676.5980 or jgreen@greenlawoffice.net. Find more information on Dr. Green at www.greenlawoffice.net. Send suggestions for topics to be covered, or any comments on this column, to review@cds.org. © 2010, Chicago Dental Society |
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