Federal Court of Justice
Doctors fail with lawsuit against the rating portal
The logo of the doctor rating portal Jameda. Photo: Marijan Murat / dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
Doctors are annoyed again and again about alleged unequal treatment at the doctor evaluation portal Jameda and take them to court. The previous case law on this is different.
Two dentists from North Rhine-Westphalia have to put up with being listed on the Jameda doctor evaluation portal in the future.
The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) decided according to information on Wednesday. The judges backed Jameda and his business model with the decision made the previous evening: The portal offers doctors the option of using paid “gold” or “platinum” packages to spice up their profiles with photos or other functions. Non-paying basic customers are not allowed to do so. There is no general right to equal treatment between payers and non-payers, the VI. Senate, however, already emphasized during the negotiation. It depends on the individual case. A reason for the decision made the previous evening will be submitted later.
Apparently, the court did not see any inadmissible discrimination against basic profiles in the present case and rejected the couple’s appeal. The doctors no longer wanted to appear in the portal and had specifically objected to 24 premium features. The largest part of it is unproblematic from the Senate’s point of view, said a BGH spokesman.
Jameda was pleased. Complete doctor lists are the basis for a free choice of doctor and ensure transparency, said Managing Director Florian Weiß. According to Jameda, the criticized points have long since changed as a precaution. One wants to stay there – regardless of how the BGH behaves on the individual points, said a company spokeswoman.
The couple can be found on the portal with their basic data – and will continue to be listed there. New anger around Jameda’s business model is programmed: Nationwide about ten more proceedings are pending, said the spokeswoman.
In principle, because of the public interest, in terms of the free choice of doctor and also because of the freedom of communication, doctors have to accept that they can be found in such portals. However, neutrality must be maintained. The BGH had clarified this in 2018 and granted a dermatologist’s complaint for deletion. Jameda then had to change its business model with the corresponding advertising formats for premium customers.
According to its own statements, Jameda lists practically all doctors nationwide. It obtains the data for this from publicly accessible sources such as telephone book entries or practice openings. Around 70,000 of the doctors listed have booked premium packages, which means they pay for special functions and services. (Ref. VI ZR 488/19 and VI ZR 489/19)