Blogging Suit Tests First Amendment Limits
By Allan Holmes | Thursday, July 05, 2007 | 04:07 PM
By Allan Holmes | Thursday, July 05, 2007 | 04:07 PM
A lawsuit filed in a District Court in Texas is a strong reminder of the responsibilities that come with blogging.
On June 19, Nashville-based Essent Healthcare, which operates the Paris Regional Medical Center in Texas, filed a suit against "The Paris site," a blogging site set up by an anonymous operator in 2005 to post insider comments about the hospital. The suit alleges that "on several occasions the blog posted 'false and misleading statements with malice,'" according to an article posted by iHealthBeat.org. "According to the lawsuit, the blogger falsely accused the hospital of criminal wrongdoing in operating and managing the hospital, including Medicare fraud."
A District Court judge recently ordered ISP SuddenLink Communications Inc. to reveal -- within 20 days of when the lawsuit was filed (that would be by July 9) -- the name of the operator and the nine bloggers who have posted to the site.
In an article on the suit, ComputerWorld quotes a First Amendment lawyer as speculating that the hospital does not have much of a case.
Comments
If a federal employee started blogging about their agency...any chances that their first amendment right would even be a consideration? By the way, I'm not part of the Executive Branch!
Dick | Friday, July 06, 2007 | 01:35 PMBlogging is a mix of a little great news and tons of rubbish with no demarcation line. Anyone who is offended by a blog should blog back.
Law suites are intended to discipline those who buy ink by the barrel. Blogs are an electronic gossip fence.
The hospital is reacting too much. They should do their own blog.
Wise Old Owl | Friday, July 06, 2007 | 07:46 AMABOUT THIS BLOG
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