David Kieff, MD, LLC

We had a very different experience than the other reviewers here. I was sad to see the negative reviews because we had a great experience.
My son was having chronic raspy voice and nose bleeds so we went to see Dr. Kieff. His PA did an excellent job of thoroughly questioning us before the Dr. came in. It was a good to actually have a health care provider spend time discussing our situation before any tests or diagnoses.
The Dr. ruled out a allergy right away after performing a scope procedure and provided meds that cleared up the nose bleeds. Now working on the voice issues. The office staff was very helpful and pleasant.

I am not surprised to read the review about signing documents prior to seeing Dr. kieff as a patient.
I suffered a wrong site surgery operation after putting my trust in Dr. Kieff. I went to him for a simple procedure — removal of a basal cell carcinoma from my face. When I removed the bandage after my surgery, the BASAL CELL WAS STILL THERE and I had a hideous gash on my face. I called dr. k’s office and he insisted that I must be «wrong». I should have known when he was so cold and detached upon first evaluation of my problem that I should have RUN out of his office. The experience is still, chilling in retrospect.
Fortunately, I hired a lawyer and the problem was quickly resolved.
I, still have the scar and bad memories of this experience, tho.
RUN in the other direction of any plastic surgery rom this man!

My rating for Dr. Kieff has nothing to do with his medical skills — it is entirely based on my interactions with him and his staff during my failed attempt to become a patient. But please pay heed, because if you choose to do business with Dr. Kieff, this review *will* be relevant to you.
When I arrived for my first appointment with Dr. Kieff in September, 2014, I was given several new-​patient forms to fill out. Mostly the usual stuff — this is how much they charge for a missed appointment, etc.
But one of the forms I had to sign contained language that seemed to say, in effect, that the copyright for anything I was to say or write in the future regarding Kieff’s medical practice would be permanently and exclusively assigned to their practice or the doctor. I don’t have the exact wording (keep reading…).
I crossed out the copyright-​related sections of the form and signed it. This Unilocal review is only made possible because I did NOT sign Dr. Kieff’s form before crossing out these terms. If I had, my review would be on Unilocal one day, and could be gone the next.
I met with Dr. Kieff, who refused to treat me unless I agreed to give him the copyright to anything I might say or write about his practice. He told me that it was to protect himself from negative reviews and comments on sites like this one, and ludicrously claimed that it did not affect my freedom of speech.
I then asked for a copy of the signed form, and Dr. Kieff refused this as well. When I asked why, he told me that it was «proprietary.» This explains why I cannot quote the form verbatim.
So I obtained a refund of my co-​pay and left.
Sure, nothing in this agreement would prevent someone from posting a negative comment about Dr. Kieff’s practice on Unilocal or other social media sites. But as soon as the comment appeared, the agreement would kick in and Dr. Kieff would have the right to demand that it be taken down.
This is wrong on so many levels… I will try to cover a few of them.
If someone asks you to sign a form, and you do, they must be obligated to give you a copy of it. It’s wholly unacceptable to refuse to provide a copy. As the Better Business Bureau of Eastern Massachusetts, Maine, Rhode Island and Vermont writes, «Whether required by law or not, you are entitled to a copy of any contract or agreement you sign.»
The reason that doctors in particular are worried about negative reviews is that due to confidentiality obligations, they can’t always respond directly to patient reviews. This does put the doctor at a disadvantage compared to many other professions.
But doctors are well-​compensated, and a good doctor is likely to have many more positive reviews than negative ones. Most complaints about doctors are related to non-​treatment matters, much like this complaint I’m making right now. Dr. Kieff is the first physician I’ve ever complained about publicly.
Requiring prospective patients to assign future copyrights as a condition for treatment seems coercive and unconscionable. When people visit a doctor, it is almost always with fear, trepidation, feelings of intimidation and confusion, and often accompanied by physical pain. When in such a vulnerable condition, to demand that patients effectively surrender their rights of speech as a condition of treatment is simply inexcusable.
Note that this is sprung on patients only minutes before their first scheduled appointment, and embedded within verbiage that many patients probably don’t even read.
This legal gag helps poorly-​performing doctors to continue their practices under the radar. The benefit to patients (through the abilities to learn about prospective doctors, and to provide much-​needed feedback to doctors) should outweigh the benefit to physicians (the freedom from bad press).
And how would this even work? For example, if Drs. Smith and Jones both used this copyright assignment provision, then who would own the copyright to a tweet like, «Dr. Jones is a far greater physician than Dr. Smith will ever be?» And while Dr. Smith might want to have that tweet removed, Dr. Jones would love to keep it online.
Or say something notable happened during my treatment — would a TV station be willing to interview me if they wouldn’t own the copyright to the interview? Or what if I wrote an autobiography and wanted to mention my treatment — would anyone publish the book, seeing as they wouldn’t own the full copyright to it? And if I did include mention of Dr. Kieff in an autobiography without disclosing this copyright provision to the publisher, would I then be opening myself up for liability of some sort?
You shouldn’t need a lawyer to go see a doctor.
Professor Eric Goldman has written an excellent article in Forbes about this rare but scary tactic. For general information, you can do an Internet search such as «eric goldman doctor reviews» (without quotes).
So if you want to become a patient of Dr. Kieff, be prepared to give up your ability to let people know how it goes.