Opinion by Consumer Advocate  Tim Bolen 

Friday, July 16th, 2010

The silence is telling.

It is now, by my initial calculations, four days beyond the deadline for Stephen Barrett to have filed a Response to the Federal Lawsuit filed against him by Doctor's Data laboratory in the Northern District of Illinois.  I just now checked my Pacer Account - and no Response has been filed by anyone, and there is no attorney listed for any of the Defendants.

Yup, the silence is telling. And, it feels really good.

I suspect that Mrs. Barrett's little boy Stevie is making good use of his "Caller ID" telephone feature, not picking up the phone when he can identify the call as coming from a Board Member of the NCAHF wanting to know just how it was that he, Barrett, used their name without the Board's permission, and got them sued.  I imagine there was foul language involved in the recorded message.

In short, I don't see the quackbuster "First String" jumping into the fray defending Stevie's position.  I hear dead silence from them - which does not bode well for Stevie.  I suspect there is dissidence in the upper ranks and there has been for a while.

There is, however, a high activity level from the quackpot Farm Team.  They are all over the place, whining, whimpering, postulating, pontificating, pimpering, and mini-screeching - hoping against hope that none of this is real and that it will all go away. 

But - and this is important - do not write off the quackpot "Farm Team."  They may be dumber than a box, individually, but someone with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) knowledge has provided them with a powerful tool - one that works to their advantage quite well, and if played right, back at them, will cause their demise.  They dominate the internet search engines with their nonsense.

We can use this situation to shut them down completely.  Forever.  Keep reading.  You'll see what I mean.

Doctor's Data's Next Moves...

No matter what Barrett and the NCAHF do to Respond, or not Respond, it will take time.  Doctor's Data has some legal tools it will no doubt use to mitigate the situation and stop the damage being done.

The Temporary Injunction - is a simple tool and could be put into place easily, whether or not Barrett and the NCAHF fail to Respond to the suit.  The simplest injunction would force Barrett, or his ISP,  to remove any and all references to Doctor's Data from his websites and newsletters.

However, Barrett and his street gang, thought of this, I think,  and simply put similar stories on other blogs and websites, then tied them all together to give them search engine (SEO) placement - and they did this clearly in malicious anticipation of defying the US Court system, making a Temporary Injunction useless.

So, there are some better ways. And, the law provides.

I am suggesting that Doctor's Data use two important tools immediately:

(1)  The Psychiatric Examination of Stephen Barrett.  At first, they could simply get a Board Certified Psychiatrist to examine Barrett, at a distance, in the light of his activities.  On the basis oif that written report they could file a Motion with the Judge asking for a forced Psychiatric Examination of Barrett.  Why?  What this loony is doing is simply not normal behavior.  Who sets themselves up as an expert on everything, tells people he is, and enforces his delusions?  To me, Barrett is simply a Public Nuisance.  It is time to deal this goofy in exactly that way.

(2)  The use of a "Gang Injunction" strategy to force all of Barrett's minions to stop maliciously damaging Doctor's Data and the patients and health professionals they serve.

"Gang injunction is a court-issued restraining order prohibiting gang members from participating in certain activities. It is based on the legal theory that gang activity constitutes a public nuisance that prevents non-gang members from enjoying peace in their communities."

It's time we had "peace in our communities..."

Stay tuned.