The Local Health Unit (ULS) of Santa Maria will initiate legal proceedings against citizens who publicly criticize the institution and its professionals on social media. The news was reported by Observador and confirmed by the hospital unit.
“The measure aims to protect ULS professionals and the institution itself from external attacks that are injurious, offensive to good practices, and damaging to the reputation of their teams, published by third parties on social networks,” assured ULS Santa Maria in response to a request for clarification.
The President of the Board of Directors, Carlos Martins, stated in an interview with Observador that it is not acceptable to disclose the name of a doctor or nurse and the service itself in a public evaluation of the technical quality or performance of the professional, emphasizing that the order applies to specific situations “with names of people and services.”
“At issue are offensive publications that exceed simple criticism, totally outside of what are the legitimate channels for presenting complaints by users, namely through the Citizen’s Office,” the institution’s statement further emphasizes, thus excluding comments of dissatisfaction with waiting times or rescheduling of appointments, for example.
This proposal “came from the legal office of ULS Santa Maria” after recent “external publications” that are “offensive to the honor of ULSSM professionals and the institution itself.” As such, the targeted citizens may be subject to a court process or a report to the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP).
However, the “measure does not focus on content that each ULSSM professional, individually, publishes on their social networks.”
Apparently, the order came into effect on August 19 and was sent to ULS professionals on Tuesday. The Santa Maria administration stated that it “hopes not to have to use this legal mechanism against third parties,” however, it emphasized that it “will not hesitate at any time to defend the good name and moral integrity of its professionals.”
The Ministry of Health stated that it “will not comment” on this situation.
[News updated at 09:37 AM]
