When you have a bad experience at a restaurant or barber or hotel many people voice their frustrations on Facebook, Twitter, or Yelp. But before you hit “SEND” on that one-star complaint about your Chicken Crispers from Chili’s being slightly cold, you might want to read this story about a woman leaving a negative Yelp review about her gynecologist and how he turned around and sued her for $1 million.
Michelle Levine visited Dr. Joon Song, a gynecologist of New York Robotic Gynecology & Women’s Health, back in August of last year for her annual exam, which was supposed to be free. “A week later, he billed my insurance company $1,304.32 for the new-patient visit and ultrasound, and I got a bill for $427 that wasn’t covered,” Levine said.
In court filings, Levine alleges that her doctor never gave her a manual pelvic exam, and instead performed an ultrasound. “When I called his office [to gripe], they were immediately aggressive and said I had come in complaining of pelvic pain,” which was the reason for the ultrasound. Levine said she never told the medical office that she had pelvic pain.
Levine wrote negative reviews on several sites, including Yelp, Facebook, ZocDoc, and Health Grades. “Very poor and crooked business practice,” Levine wrote in the one-star review. “I suspect that this doctor gives unnecessary procedures to a lot of people and then charges the insurance sky-high prices and no one knows the difference. Everything about my one and only visit here has caused me emotional distress and panic, and now they want me to cough up an extra $500 for services I didn’t even need?”
Two weeks later, Dr. Joon then sued Levine for around $1 million for defamation, libel, and causing emotional distress, plus pay his legal fees. “I gave an honest review of my experience to warn others, and he is trying to silence me. It’s a nightmare,” she said. Levine said she has spent nearly $20,000 fighting the lawsuit. Levine took down all of her reviews, but recently posted an update on Yelp which you can read below.
“While everyone is entitled to their opinion, outright lies masquerading as reviews can inflict serious damage to a medical practice or small business,” Dr. Joon’s attorney said in a statement. Levine said that she doesn’t regret writing her review and will continue to fight the lawsuit. The moral of the story is be careful on social media and always document EVERYTHING.
Hankering for more “Gynecologist Lawsuit” news? Who isn’t? Read how Dr. Dre lost a long-running trademark battle to a gynecologist.
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