A Minnesota judge weighed a touchy healthcare issue in a defamation lawsuit, deciding whether or not a doctor’s right to protect his reputation outweighs the family of a patient’s intentions to publicize their grievances against the doc. The District Court judge sided with the family, tossing out the doctor’s defamation lawsuit.

The Grand Forks Herald ruled that the grievances were not defamatory, writing:

“In modern society, there needs to be some give and take, some ability for parties to air their differences. Today, those disagreements may take place on various Internet sources. Because the medium has changed, however, does not make statements of this sort any more or less defamatory.”

If you’ve ever gone public with a complaint against a doctor, what resistance did you face?

Court dismisses Duluth doctor’s lawsuit against patient’s son [Grand Forks Herald via Reddit]

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