A petition launched earlier this week by campaign organiser and Melbourne surgeon Dr Jill Tomlinson had attracted more than 100 signatures in just a few days.

Last night the petition and campaign was moved by Dr Tomlinson to the activist website change.org and is continuing to attract support.

Medical Observer, along with profession heavyweights including World Medical Association chair Dr Mukesh Haikerwal, RDAA president Dr Ian Kamerman and organisations such as General Practice Registrars Australia, is supporting the campaign.

Dr Tomlinson’s campaign follows ongoing doctor concern about an apparent contradiction between the wording of recently introduced Medical Board of Australia guidelines and public statements from the board and AHPRA about how they will be enforced.

The guidelines state that a failure by doctors to seek the removal of unsolicited patient comments relating to their clinical work would attract official warnings, fines and prosecution.

However, the board and AHPRA have stated that only testimonials used deliberately to advertise would be in breach.

AHPRA has also taken to twitter to respond directly to doctor queries, with AHPRA CEO Martin Fletcher due to hold a live web chat via the social media platform next Friday.

Dr Tomlinson told MO that while she was heartened by personal assurances from Mr Fletcher that he was listening and taking on board doctors’ concerns, the wording of the guidelines still presented a significant risk to doctors.

“By going with the change.org petition, it is something health consumers and doctors can easily share via social media networks,” she said.

“The fact is that the guidelines make statements that need to be removed because they put a fairly significant and unreasonable requirement on health professionals.”