A federal judge recently ruled that it was illegal for a plastic surgeon to prevent his patients from writing bad reviews online by requiring them to sign a non-disclosure agreement. The surgeon, Dr. David Sajan, and his clinic, Allure Esthetic, required patients to sign an agreement before they had surgery not to post about their experiences if they were unhappy.  The clinic allegedly made over 10,000 patients sign these agreements between 2017 and 2019.

The agreements required patients to talk to Allure first instead of posting any bad comments online. There were also allegations that Allure tried to scare patients into taking down bad reviews and even sometimes paid patients to remove bad reviews.  The complaint alleged the group had their employees post good reviews that weren’t true and had employees change “before-and-after” photos to make the surgery results look better than they were.  The amount of money Allure will have to pay will be decided in a separate trial scheduled for September.

 Importance of the case:  Although this ruling was in Seattle, Washington, the ruling was based entirely on federal consumer protection laws, so a similar outcome would be expected in Georgia and across the country.   People often look at online reviews to decide if they can trust a physician, so allowing free comments is important.  It is even more vital when it’s about protecting patient health and safety.

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