Publicly accused of the wrong procedure, unable to say otherwise
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A review on RateMDs flatly claimed that I had "performed the wrong procedure," which is a false statement of fact, not a matter of opinion or bedside style.
On a site whose entire purpose is helping patients pick a doctor, an accusation like that is about as damaging as anything I can imagine, and the truth would require breaching the very privacy laws that already gag me. I have performed the procedures I perform thousands of times, carefully, and none of that record can answer a single fabricated sentence.
In the weeks after, a couple of prospective patients mentioned it during consultations, and I could see them weighing it against everything else I said. It is a particular kind of professional vertigo to be publicly and specifically accused of an error you did not make, with your hands tied.
I gathered documentation and took it to counsel, who cautioned that any public rebuttal, or even a legal filing, risked disclosing the actual clinical details of the care in question. So the false claim stands as the headline of my profile, unrebutted.