In the time since I found out who Bellamoore is, the behind-the-scenes process has been slow and appears to be at a standstill. In the meantime, I think people should be informed of Bellamoore’s connections since some of her posts are still online, and that insider reviews happen in medicine. The latter part of this post describes my personal experience with this and what I feel is the biggest red flag for “insider rating”: how the insider attacks the unhappy patient.
Some people don’t believe it, but insider reviews really do happen in medicine.
In medicine, it is critical to view online reviews with a skeptical eye, given the enormous financial, physical, and emotional costs that a person can encounter in this field.
In particular, plastic surgery patients may be vulnerable to misleading online reviews if the patients do not have anyone they can comfortably ask for a referral – such as a family member, friend, or personal doctor.
As if to illustrate this, two common topics on plastic surgery message boards are variations of “what about Dr. _____?” and “who is a good plastic surgeon in my area?” So people are looking online for surgeons in this field.
With 13.8 million surgical and non-invasive cosmetic surgery procedures in 2011 alone (http://www.plasticsurgery.org/news-and-resources/2011-statistics-.html ), this suggests there are many people who may be influenced by glowing online reviews from writers who are not 100% up front.
On a larger scale, the integrity of online reviews is a big issue. In a study supported by Google and the National Science Foundation, researchers at Cornell University developed an algorithm to spot fake reviews: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/20/technology/finding-fake-reviews-online.html In addition, sites such as Yelp.com and RateMDs.com already have their own screening algorithms:
However, no screening software is perfect, so people should stay skeptical.
How can people try to spot ‘off’ reviews themselves?
The article at http://consumerist.com/2010/04/how-you-spot-fake-online-reviews.html has a lot of useful tips on spotting iffy reviews. A TIME writer recently posted an article with a lot of useful links at: http://moneyland.time.com/2012/02/03/9-reasons-why-you-shouldnt-trust-online-reviews/ Please see my post about “Helping Others” for other red flags, as well: http://myrollindanielexperience.blogspot.com/2012/01/helping-others.html
Another way to learn to spot “insider rating” is to look at other examples of it:
- In 2011, a Reddit user found a gaming company engineer rating his company’s game with perfect scores: http://redd.it/g3td7 (840 comments)
- A Wall Street Journal blog entry in 2009 showed how one man discovered a marketing employee reviewing her company’s products on Amazon.com: http://blogs.wsj.com/wallet/2009/07/09/delonghis-strange-brew-tracking-down-fake-amazon-raves/
- In December, 2011, Nokia and Microsoft employees were identified by their IP addresses after they defended a new Nokia/Microsoft phone: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2011/dec/19/nokia-microsoft-lumia-comments
My experience with “insider rating”
My personal experience with insider rating started soon after I began posting in 2010. Bellamoore appeared online around that time with a glowing account of her rhinoplasty with Dr. Rollin Daniel. Bellamoore spent about a year apparently trying to counteract me by nearly copying my blog name and taking little pot shots at me, all the while describing an excellent rhinoplasty experience with Dr. Daniel through her blog, message board posts, and multiple reviews on rating sites.
Bellmoore’s blog was online for about 11 months. Many of her glowing posts were online for nearly two years, accumulating almost 10,000 views on MakeMeHeal.com (MMH) alone. Some of her reviews are still online to this day without any mention of her connections.
The biggest red flag for insider reviews
Bellamoore’s MMH posts included a couple of slams at me, like here: http://messageboards.makemeheal.com/rhinoplasty/had-pre-with-rollin-daniel-t137321.html
This was similar to what happened in the Lifestyle Lift case, where people who criticized LL were attacked: http://www.ag.ny.gov/press-release/attorney-general-cuomo-secures-settlement-plastic-surgery-franchise-flooded-internet “Employees also attacked legitimate message board posters who criticized Lifestyle Lift...”
I think this is the biggest red flag for insider reviewing – attacks on the unhappy patient. Why would a genuinely happy patient attack one who was hurt? I would think they would feel more like, “Whew, I’m glad I was there on a good day, and that wasn’t me.” This has generally been my experience with pleased Dr. Daniel patients, as well.
So how was Bellamoore an “insider?”
During her time posting, the person shown in the Bellamoore blog worked in an office of plastic surgeons in Newport Beach. The office is in the building next to Dr. Daniel’s.
A website registered before Bellamoore’s final MMH posts stated that “[her real first name] has been the... technician of choice for many of the leading plastic surgeons in Newport Beach and Beverly Hills,” and listed that office’s address as well as what appeared to be her personal phone number.
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| This site has been deleted. |
One the surgeons also linked to that Newport Beach office during that time was the one who observed my revision rhinoplasty with Dr. Daniel – Dr. Raffi Hovsepian. Dr. Hovsepian also did a fellowship under Dr. Daniel at some point, according to his CV posted here: link.
According to a now-missing post on Dr. Daniel’s Facebook, observations of his surgeries are routine:
Dr. Hovsepian vehemently denies involvement with the Bellamoore blog. He was instrumental in getting it deleted, according to his attorney.
Efforts to reach Dr. Daniel through his attorneys were unsuccessful.
Bellamoore was different from fake reviews and medical astroturfing because she was a real patient. However, it is hard for me to imagine she was completely unbiased when she attacked me and named her blog nearly the same as mine.
The knowledge of where she worked would affect the perception of her posts as others wrote:
“Why is there no response from Bellamoore? Some clarification/explanation is needed or readers will have grave doubts,no ?” – Gloss, http://messageboards.makemeheal.com/rhinoplasty/had-pre-with-rollin-daniel-t137321.html , July 1, 2011 [thread partially deleted in April 2012].
“I am especially concerned with the accusations of his staff writing reviews for [Doctor Daniel]. ... seems to think that a poster by the name Bellamoore is secretly one of his staff members or something..."– Hottmama3, http://messageboards.makemeheal.com/rhinoplasty/rollin-daniel-t157196.html , March 8, 2012 [thread deleted].
Indeed, this type of affiliation is the focus of the second sentence of the MakeMeHeal.com terms of use:
"Information and services are being provided on the understanding that the ... members... of Make Me Heal are not in any way affiliated to any surgeons and doctors.” http://www.makemeheal.com/mmh/termsofuse.vm
Most importantly, the following sites are still online to this day, accumulating page views without mention of the authors’ connections at this time:
1. http://www.drrollindaniel.com/photogallery/patient-experiences-patient-blogs-5681/case-1-28589 [update: this part of drrollindaniel.com was removed sometime in July, 2012.]
2. http://www.makemeheal.com/directory/viewfullreviewprem.php?review_id=4330
Bellamoore’s 10/10-star review of Dr. Daniel.
3. http://www.makemeheal.com/directory/viewfullreview.php?review_id=4222
Bellamoore’s 10/10-star review of Dr. Hovsepian, which predated many of her posts about Dr. Daniel.
4. http://doctorbase.com/blog/rdaniel/reviews-ratings [update: on July 12, 2012, this rating was removed]
5/5-star rating on June 16, 2011 by “Bella Moore.” This review is nearly identical to the September 27, 2011 Yelp review by “Bella M” that was at http://www.yelp.com/filtered_reviews/gUnErlVUKW4dNESvilP3WA (review removed by Yelp).
5. http://extraordinarydrraffihovsepian.blogspot.com/
Her sister’s blog; posted by “Kourtneymoore” on MMH. Around the time of this blog’s December 7, 2011 post, Bellamoore was working as Dr. Hovsepian’s surgery coordinator.
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| Screen capture of http://www.blogger.com/profile/04663915626582852060 on 6/17/2011. “MyRollinDanielMDexperience” was the name of the Bellamoore blog, which started after mine. |
My blog allows comments for anyone who wants to discuss this. The doctors, their office coworkers, and staff members are welcome to comment here.
