Doctor Sues Former Employee for Using Website
Doctor Sues Former Employee for Using Website
by Earl Thurston
01/13/09
After only eight days on the job, Jeremy Ferguson had enough of working for Dr. Boothe and terminated his employment. Mr. Ferguson went online and documented some of his experiences working for this doctor. Dr. Boothe is now suing Mr. Ferguson.
Previous Lawsuits
Dr. Boothe has court records in at least two counties:
Dallas County
Collin County
Dr. William A. Boothe, an ophthalmologist (or eye doctor), of the Boothe Eye Care And Laser Center in Plano, Texas, is no stranger to the court room. He has previously sued others that have shared their experiences about him online. He successfully silenced a previous patient. Mr. Brent Hanson suffered permanent eye damage from previous eye surgeries with other doctors. After receiving mass-mail advertisements from Dr. William Boothe, he made an appointment. Dr. Boothe examined Mr. Hanson's eyes and refused to perform LASIK on him. Mr. Hanson made a website (lasikquack.com - now offline) and documented disturbing information he uncovered about Dr. Boothe, including a list of previous lawsuits that Dr. Boothe has been in.
Above is a portion of lasikquack.com as it was back in 2005, before Dr. Boothe took it down.
Brent Hanson is unfortunately unable to talk with us about Dr. Boothe. We were fortunate to find another source of the old website that Dr. Boothe took down. And, of course, court documents are public material.
As a result of Dr. Boothe suing Mr. Hanson, he successfully intimidated Mr. Hanson into signing a contract which prevents Mr. Hanson from ever speaking about Dr. Boothe again. If Mr. Hanson had decided to defend himself in court against Dr. Boothe, it would have cost the patient about $40,000, according to Mr. Hanson's attorney. Due to the cost to defend himself, he backed down and signed the contract, effectively putting a gag on himself, preventing him from telling others what he knows about Dr. Boothe. We believe that Dr. Boothe is now attempting to do the same against his former employee, Mr. Ferguson.
Suing the Former Employee
The former employee, Mr. Ferguson, documented some of his observations about Dr. Boothe's business practices on DoctorScorecard. After the lawsuit threat, Mr. Ferguson edited his comments, removing most of his original observations. We did not verify any of the statements made by Mr. Ferguson.
The main difference in this lawsuit is that the former employee signed a contract with Dr. Boothe at the start of his employment. The approximately 10-page contract filled with legal speak included a section that, according to the lawsuit:
...prohibits him, directly or indirectly, from denigrating, disparaging or undertaking to discredit Dr. Boothe....
Can Mr. Ferguson defend himself?
Did Mr. Ferguson break this contract if he told the truth? The wording suggests that he can't write defamation about the doctor, but if Mr. Ferguson is telling the truth, is he breaking the law?
Even though the former employee signed the contract, how can this be enforced in a court of law? Does Dr. Boothe's contract strip a US citizen from his constitutional right to free speech? What do you think? Does Mr. Ferguson have a chance winning this case or should he give in to Dr. Boothe and sign a settlement agreement?
What does Dr. Boothe seek?
According to the court documents, Dr. Boothe seeks:
...to be awarded actual damages within the jurisdictional limits of the court, a reasonable amount for attorneys fees, exemplary damages, prejudgment and postjudgment interest, costs of court, and such other relief to which Dr. Boothe may be entitled.
...in other words he seeks money.
But, does he really want just money or does he really seek to silence Mr. Ferguson? What Dr. Boothe accomplished in previous court cases was to silence people, taking away their ability to tell others about their experiences with him. His main goal is probably to silence Mr. Ferguson.
It appears that Dr. Boothe posted a job listing on Craigslist to replace Mr. Ferguson.
Help
If you have advice or can help Mr. Ferguson in any way, please leave your comment on this blog or contact me directly at the link below. If Mr. Ferguson has a chance at winning this case, we would like to start a donation fund to help Mr. Ferguson pay his legal costs to stand up to Dr. Boothe. Mr. Ferguson is a married man with a small child and is now unemployed. Dr. Boothe has much bigger pockets to pay lawyers to silence his critics. Please post your ideas below and subscribe to the RSS feed below if you want to keep updated on this case. Thank you.
01/13/09 02:07:17 pm, 
18 comments
Dr. Feldman's lawyers repeatedly threatened me with "violation of restraining order" and plainly stated that it does not matter if I publish the VERIFIABLE TRUTH about my experience and communication with Dr. Feldman... that it was "up to the Court to decide what is defamatory"
In other words, TRUTH is to be hidden.. and the legal system is more than happy to vilify the truth tellers and PROTECT dangerous, deceitful medical professionals.
Watch this video
http://www.vimeo.com/2291872
Of COURSE, his real goal is to SILENCE! There isn't a medical malpractice claim that doesn't have a "gag clause" attached to it. That is why there are so few people willing to publicly expose negligent doctors. The injured patient wither files a med/mal case OR has the freedom to speak the truth in a public forum. The first thing any lawyer will tell you when you try to sue for malpractive is "do not talk about this with anyone". And that is how these doctors preserve their "reputations" and continue to harm more unsuspecting patients.
Even worse, are those like Mr. Ferguson and others who work with negligent doctors who BLOW THE WHISTLE to protect the public. They are the ones who are PUNISHED.. lose their jobs, and if they are doctors themselves, are ostracized by their peers, lose hospital privileges.. It is a twisted nightmare with innocent people always ending up victims.
GOODLUCK
bubbabubba
"I decided to launch LasikQuack.com by putting material on it and submitting it to search engines, after concluding that Dr. Boothe would not stop his campaign to publish derogatory material about ophthalmologists in North Texas, upon whom I have relied for medical treatment."
Source: Court Records - Dr. William A. Boothe vs. Brent Hanson (PDF file)
Boothe has a history of intimidating others into silence, the most effective and profitable for his 'reputation'.
Sorry Boothie, your ego and past actions already destroyed your reputation!
An article was published by the AP on Wed 4 March titled "Docs seek gag orders to stop patients' reviews". It was written by Lindsey Tanner. Please read it. Dr Jeffery Segal made the comment "...what should really matter to patients--a doctor's medical skills..." (Dr Segal has started a company "Medical Justice" that provides doctors with the waivers and helps them fight bad reviews) Sorry to disagree Dr Segal. No matter how skilled a physician, if he/she has no moral ethics it can be the difference between life and death. Dr Timothy Kinsella promotes himself as "Internationally Known---my expertise stands alone". However, when Dr Kinsella was told by a fellow physician that he was administering only 1/10 the dose of radiation his 3 yr old patient should have been receiving, Dr Kinsella said he would "take care of it", but he didn't. Instead he chose to do nothing and the little boy died shortly after. On top of that, Dr Kinsella then falsified the child's record in an attempt to hide what he had done. So, all the skill in the world didn't save that little boy when his doctor was limited in "good moral character" dept. See the website "acancerdoctor.com" and ask yourself if you would use that "Internationally Known" physician for your medical care?
These doctors just don't get it. It seems they have a God attitude which entitles them to do whatever they please and screw up and we shouldn't be able to say anything---because we don't have the right to challenge them and they think we are too stupid to recognize their value and skill? If that isn't belittling the patient I don't know what is!
The article went on to say that the co-founder of RateMDs.com will stand behind the First Amendment and that he is planning a "Wall of Shame" for doctors who use the waivers. Please contact him and tell him thank you and let him know if a doctor has asked you to sign a waiver. Thank you "DoctorScoreCard"!
Jim Speta, a NW Univ Internet law specialist made this comment "Courts may say the balance of power between doctors and patients is very uneven" and that patients should be able to give feedback on their doctors' performance.
Dr Nancy Nielsen, Pres, AMA, states on-line reviews should be taken with "a grain of salt". Mmmmm, is she suggesting that patients are liars and/or a too stupid to realize how great EVERY doctor is? Really, are all doctors rated poorly, or are just the rotten doctors who should be "outed" the ones who are rated poorly? She goes on to say that on-line reviews are not a "good way to figure it out". Well, Dr Streicher, the Medical Boards sure aren't doing their job to get rid of the rotten doctors, as it seems from my experience, they did everything necessary to protect Dr Kinsella and let him "jump" to another state so now the poor patients in NY will be at risk. Does she think that is figuring it out?
Unless the patient has a great deal of readily available funds, THIS is the only power patients have to fight bad doctors. The medical industry wants to strip away what little bit of power we have been afforded in the First Amendment! They will do everything necessary to keep their overwhelming power over the patient. Unless we keep using the only power we have, granted to us through the First Amendment, we will be forever silenced by those who want to control us and silence us so they can continue to hurt more in their quest for money!
He hires attorneys to reinvent the internet with threats of take it down or an expensive lawsuit. There once was many lawsuits against him posted on http://groups.google.com/group/alt.lasik-eyes/topics
LOL He tired to battle the negative news by disguising himself as Omega and called himself a "Stud" Can you imagine the ego of this guy?
One employee was intimidated by Boothe brandishing a gun.
Anyone subjected to one of his lawsuits has settlement resulting in silence - that is what he wants - so he can continue finding more victims (I mean patients).
The most outrageous malpractice lawsuit against Boothe is so serious that the patients eyelids were STITCHED CLOSED. No kidding.
STRONGLY consider the many malpractice lawsuits - the public records at the courthouse cannot be silenced by Boothe and his attorneys.
This guy is sue happy out of control and I rate him a -F or 1
Start a website and print only the facts. Ask lots of questions rather than making statements. Challenge the medical industry! This is the only power patients have.
This fantastic "threat to commit PUBLIC SUICIDE" ( not email at all, but sent through a "contact" page on his own website), was used by Dr. Eppley and his sleazy lawyers at Lewis & Kappes, Indianapolis, to have me dragged from my home, taken to the hospital against my will, where I was forced to remain for 24 hours and evaluated for suicide watch. Only after a lengthy interview with a psychiatrist who saw through this legal stunt, was I allowed to leave.
He did this to SILENCE ME.. He is fully aware that everything I published on the Internet about the way he handled my surgery is factual. It has been online since 2001 and knowing everything is true, has not been successful in having a single word, photo or video removed from any website.. until now. And he was only able to accomplish this through more of his disgusting lies.
His lawyers are now engaged in a hideous game which I dearly hope is costing him plenty. You have to read the actual complaint to appreciate just how corrupt these "professionals" can be and the lengths they will take to keep the filth of their actions hidden beneath the rug.
You will find the legal documents here:
http://www.eppleyplasticsurgerysucks.com/lawsuit.html
And a website put up by a man in Norway who was outraged at the abusiveness and injustice of Dr. Eppley's actions:
http://www.barryeppleyplasticsurgeon.com/
Here is an article in the Indianapolis Business Journal about the lawsuit:
http://cms.ibj.com/ASPXPages/6iframes/FrontEndArticlesDetailPage.aspx?ArticleID=35344&NoFrame=1
As for being sued for speaking out against a doctor, I can tell you first hand that it is quite involved (see Nevyas v. Morgan under Nevyas Eye Associates section of my website).
As far as I'm concerned, they lied to me from day 1 by telling me I was a good candidate for LASIK (they even wrote it on my records) when in fact I was NOT! My contention is that my doctors (Herbert & Anita Nevyas) took my sight, they will not take the truth!
Why didn't Mr. Hanson just sue Boothe for medical malpractice?
Saw tonight where he is threatening another girl for stating her experience with him.
My two cents - just because you herd enough people in like cattle, to say you've done the MOST does not mean you are The Best. It only means you're the greediest and most likely to make mistakes.
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