Anyone that uses the internet has likely to have come across reviews and testimonials for a range of products and services. A testimonial is a positive statement about a person or thing.
They're often used by companies to spruik their produce and services - but there are some areas where testimonials send the wrong message.
The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) prohibits any regulated medical practitioners from using testimonials when advertising their medical services.
Dr Chris Moy is the Vice President of the Australian Medical Association. Dr Moy says patients should steer clear of any regulated medical practitioner who uses testimonials to advertise their clinical services.
"Australia's Health Practitioner Regulation Agency which covers all registered health practitioners, basically says that testimonials are not on. It defines testimonials as recommendations or positive statements about the clinical aspects of the regulators' health service, use of advertising such as patient stories, patient experience or success stories. You can hear that's the problem. They are going to be just all positive and they have the potential to really bias people's thinking about treatment and make it sound better than it actually is - without indicating the potential negatives and that has the potential to really reduce trust in the system."
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