Physician blogging about his court case under an alias revealed in court hearing - One thing about the web is that someone will somehow figure out who you are; not sure how using an alias was helpful here with the court case ongoing at the time. I read a lot of medical blogs and learn from them as well. I think this particular blog, which no longer exists, when referencing the ongoing malpractice trial didn't do too many favors to anyone all the way around. Perhaps some of these elements would have been better left unsaid during litigation on the blog. BD
As Ivy League-educated pediatrician Robert P. Lindeman sat on the stand in Suffolk Superior Court this month, defending himself in a malpractice suit involving the death of a 12-year-old patient, the opposing counsel startled him with a question.
Was Lindeman Flea?
Flea, jurors in the case didn't know, was the screen name for a blogger who had written often and at length about a trial remarkably similar to the one that was going on in the courtroom that day. The consultant told him juries in medical malpractice cases base verdicts almost entirely on their view of a doctor's character.
Over the past year, Lindeman increasingly used it to rail against the malpractice suit.
The exchange may have been lost on jurors, but Meyer said Mulvey had telegraphed that she was ready to share Lindeman's blog -- containing his unvarnished views of lawyers, jurors, and the legal process -- with the jury.
The next day, the case was settled.
Source: Boston Globe
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