Source - Kaiser Scapegoat: California Laywer Magazine

When researching corporate blogs in January 2006, I found an article in the California Lawyer Magazine discussing the case of Elisa D. Cooper, former employee of Kaiser Permanente.

The article states that Kaiser was "fined $200,000 by a state agency for the blogger's online disclosures."

On December 2, 2006 -- Elisa tried to add the following comment to a post on my blog:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi, Fiona -

I wish I had found this when you first posted it. I was NOT fired for blogging. I didn't begin blogging until over a year after I lost my job at Kaiser.

This was the story Kaiser PR put out because they were trying to cover up for the fact they had posted patient information on the Internet for four or five years.

I found their web site through Google, just as you could have.The whole timeline is posted in the sidebar of my blog: http://corphq.livejournal.com

Please consider actually reading up on a person's story before making public pronouncements about them in the future.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I used the California Lawyer Magazine as a source. Elisa D. Cooper's side of the story is at: http://corphq.livejournal.com/

Kaiser Scapegoat -- Apology from Fiona Torrance Author of Biz Blog Review

THE POST "non-traditional-business-communication" WILL BE DELETED FROM BIZ BLOG REVIEW.

Elisa:

Thank you for emailing me and correcting the story.

When researching corporate blogs back in January 2006, I discovered a story about you being fired for blogging published by a credible source (I don't have it with me right now but will forward you the source when I get home). Based on this source, I quoted the incident not intending to spread information that is untrue about you. For this, I sincerely apologize.

Please forgive me and accept my sincere apology. I believed the source to be true and wasn't following your blog at the time.

Sincerely,

Fiona Torrance

On 12/2/06, kaiser scapegoat wrote:

Hi, Fiona -

I just saw this post from back in March:http://bizblogreview.blogspot.com/2006/03/non-traditional-business-communication.html

You falsely accused me of being fired from Kaiser Permanente for blogging. I didn't start blogging until a year after I lost my job at Kaiser. Since you I are so interested in corporate PR, the "fired for blogging" story was one ofmany played up by Kaiser to distract the public and cover up for the factthey had been posting patient information on the web for four or five years.

I have a timeline of events posted in the sidebar of my blog:http://corphq.livejournal.comSince I'm a blogger, it would have been very easy to follow up on my storyinstead of just reaching for a stereotype to fill out your own efforts atself-promotion. It looks like that post was fairly popular, with almost 50 comments.

Please think of what it would do to you if other prominentbloggers were cavalierly labeling you as a person "fired for blogging." Now your false assertion has been posted in public for nine months. I ask you toremove it immediately, though it won't do much good now.

~ Elisa