"Namby-Pamby Noncommittal Crap". In Search Of Flea: Why I Won't Be Voting For Kevin MD For Best Medical Web-blog

I still read Kevin M.D.

The good Dr. Pho runs what is essentially a corporately-sponsored medical blog aggregator. Even though I agree with him about a lot of things (the lamentable Presidential candidacy of a certain North Carolina ambulance-chaser comes to mind), I rarely comment, because since Kevin started moderating the blog a while back, he's taken to deleting my (admittedly often less-than-gaga) comments. I don't pull punches when I think Kevin is faking it . . . sucking up/selling out . . . . or buying into his own hyped-up press.

Maybe that makes me one of his trolls?

For instance, the other day, I saw this post on Kevin's blog, inviting readers to vote for him for "Best Medical Web-blog" (my vote for him in that category is so not going to happen).

My comment on that post was, "At times like these I miss Flea." It was not published.

I really do miss me some Flea.

Ironically, yesterday, the good Dr. Pho had another post up, commenting on an interview about medical blogging (via Canada's National Review of Medicine) with none other than Flea, aka Dr. Robert Lindeman.

Now Flea (who if memory serves, won the award that Kevin is bucking for) has kept a very low profile since the fiasco that shut down his blog and scored the family of one of his patients a hefty malpractice settlement. For those who do not recall, Flea (a Pediatrician and gifted writer) was blogging "anonymously" on his own malpractice case as it moved forward, when the plaintiffs' lawyer "outed" him on the stand. The lawyers ruled, and the case was quickly settled without ever being fully presented to or considered by a jury (or the blogging public for that matter) . . . on the fear of the unknown as opposed to real medical merit.

Flea's blogging nightmare actually emboldened me to pick up his gauntlet and write about my own experience being sued (unsuccessfully) for "malpractice" (resolved before Flea's fall from grace). Of course, being a total wuss compared to the mighty Flea, I waited until after the fact of summary judgment.

My own blogging was actually brought up at one point by opposing counsel . . . in an oily threatening, extortionist kind of way. My attitude at the time was, "If you think you can prove that I don't care about my patients by bringing up the fact that I'm furious about being fired (by a "non-profit", no less) for saving the life of one . . . well, have at it. BRING IT ON."

As bad as that dance with the legal system was, it really did not hold a candle to my first experience with lawyers and litigation . . . and being unsuccessfully sued for "libel" (as it turns out, by a bunch of liars).

As I say in the "gauntlet" post, there was no comparison. Being sued for "malpractice" was about what I do. Being sued for "libel" was about what I am.

From Flea:

"No wonder when doctors write, they write namby-pamby noncommittal crap," says Dr Lindeman, "it might get you in trouble someday." His advice? "Don't blog anonymously. For physicians, writing is dangerous. There is something really messed up about that.

"Despite the dangers, you can minimize your risk. Don't discuss real patient cases, include a disclaimer to make clear that your writing shouldn't be misconstrued as medical advice, and, suggests a humbled Dr Lindeman, don't write about your trial.

Well, as in my book, Dr. Kevin Pho personifies the namby-pamby non-committal style Flea bemoans, there was NO WAY I was not going to comment (a double negative - apologies to Mama). So I did.

Let's just say, I committed. Flea, I hope, would be proud.

The comment, once again was not published.

But this time, anticipating the snit-fit & delete act by Kevin, I saved it to post on my own blog.

Kevin had another post up later that afternoon . . . a review of his "terms of use and comment policy". It serves as a pointed message to medical blogging "subversives" like me that, for all that he says he welcomes "dissenting veiws", Dr. Kevin Pho only appreciates (and prints) the comments of those readers who support what he's saying and doing.

Right after that, Kevin thanked his corporate sponsors.

And with that, I rest my case. Here's the comment I left at Kevin's.

I too am glad to hear from Flea.

I note my recent comment with regards to Flea (posted on Kevin's 2007 nomination for "Best Medical Weblog") was not published. It's part of the reason Kevin will not get my vote.

Flea's comments in the interview are well-taken. To some degree, he's absolutely right about the danger inherent to doctors writing. On the other hand, I have been publishing under my own name (about some pretty touchy subjects - for going on three years). When I started, I thought it was a huge risk (as I've been sued for telling the truth before).

It's turned out to be very cathartic - and freeing.

I may file another lawsuit shortly . . . and when I do, I'm thinking about challenging the notion that one should not blog on one's own legal action. In Flea's (malpractice) case, it was clearly a bad idea. In my case (one that exposes so-called "public servants" warped by greed/and a beyond-broken system of medical-legal oversight) it may be just what the doctor ordered.

At my blog, I don't do "namby-pamby noncommittal crap". I write bluntly and in a committed fashion about a very traumatic experience with corporate medicine (in my hometown no less) . . . that Flea immediately found link-worthy . . . but Kevin never has, and I've repeatedly asked for help from a "medical establishment" that pontificates all the time that doctors should care more about patients than money.

Well I did. And my life as I knew it was destroyed. No one cared.

I certainly have not gotten ANY help from the mighty Kevin M.D. in getting the word out. I believe it has something to do with the corporate sponsors.

Another reason Kevin will not get my vote.

I doubt Kevin will publish this comment either, but there's always copy and paste;)

If Kevin thinks the above comment constitutes a "personal attack", perhaps he should come visit the Greensboro, N.C. blogopshere and find out what that term really means in the land of blogging big-boys flinging around the "whack-jobs" and "batshit crazies".

Of course, I hear that kind of thing is "out" lately.

With few exceptions (i.e. the vicious lawyer-types), Flea took all commenters as they were. I'll never forget that ray of sunshine in my Inbox one morning, "Hey baby! Welcome to my blogroll!" Flea put up with the militant Moms and the law school junkies and the angry doctors. Sometimes he debated, sometimes he ignored. But he rarely moderated anything out . . . and when he did, you could rest assured the commenter deserved it. His blog was a passionate work of art and love. I really, Really, REALLY miss reading him on a daily basis.

Kevin, by comparison, is not fit to lick Flea's shoe-covers. What is really "messed up" is that Kevin will likely win this award. Because baby, that deck is stacked by the people paying for his ads.

So, in conclusion, it is my opinion that Kevin M.D.'s brand of white-washed, fence-sitting, corporately-sponsored, sell-out, NAMBY-PAMBY medical blogging should NOT define the genre for the rest of us. It should not be rewarded. We doctors have to be braver and bolder than that. We owe that to bloggers like Flea.

We owe that to ourselves.