Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Florida
I live in Florida. I recently took my two year old son to an emergency care clinic for stitches. After over an hour of waiting the doctor who saw him refused to treat him, saying he did not want to bother with a toddler. In addition this doctor was very rude about it and had a terrible and very unprofessional attitude and manner towards my son. To the best of my knowledge it is not legal to refuse emergency treatment in this state; but be that as it may I left without recieving any treatment for my son. I later called the office that manages this emergency care clinic and complained. I have never been treated this poorly by any medical provider anywhere. They stated that they would look into it and get back to me, but they never have.
This has been a week ago and I am still very upset about this. I write a blog that a lot of local people read, and I would like to write a post about this experience. Everything is either hard fact (he was refused treatment for no reason) or my opinion (this doc is an unprofessional jerk who is terrible with kids). Where does this fall under libel for Florida if I publicly post this experience to my blog, seeing as it would be a statement of truth and my personal opinion regarding that truth?
1 Answer from Attorneys
You are correct that you have a very strong defense of truth and opinion. Truth is the ultimate defense to libel and slander. As long as the statements are not defamatory (false and knowingly false) or threatening or other exceptions, you have a constitutional right to open your mouth with freedom of speech. I would be hard pressed as a lawyer to find a reason you would be wrong for talking about this experience in negative, truthful terms.
I am so sorry to hear that you had this bad experience with a doctor. Quite a shame.
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