In the final analysis, Flea – known off-line as Dr. Robert P. Lindeman – simply couldn’t resist the urge to scratch that blogger’s itch: the urge to blab.
That he blabbed while on trial – about his trial – sets him apart from crowd.
According to this morning’s Boston Globe, here’s what transpired in a malpractice suit with Doc Flea on the stand fielding questions from plaintiff’s attorney:
Was Lindeman Flea?
Flea, jurors in the case didn’t know, was the screen name for a blogger who had written often and at length about a trial remarkably similar to the one that was going on in the courtroom that day.
In his blog, Flea had ridiculed the plaintiff’s case and the plaintiff’s lawyer. He had revealed the defense strategy. He had accused members of the jury of dozing.
With the jury looking on in puzzlement, Lindeman admitted that he was, in fact, Flea.
The next morning, on May 15, he agreed to pay what members of Boston’s tight-knit legal community describe as a substantial settlement — case closed.
None of the principals – in particular, Dr. Flea — had anything meaningful in the wake of the settlement. That’s too bad, of course, because the questions just scream for answers, primary among them:
How in the name of Marcus Welby does a man make it through medical school despite being this mind-numbingly stupid?
Will Flea’s malpractice insurer pay up?
What of the doc’s patients? Would you entrust your kids to someone who demonstrates this level of common sense and responsibility.
These stories have become virtually an every day occurrence on the Internet. Here at Buzzblog we’ve come to call what Dr. Flea did “blogging off the cliff.” You can see examples here that involve a lawyer and a Microsoft employee.
Let’s be careful out there.
