Letters to the Editor
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Google is a blessing
If you do the same using Google, the first site you'll see is Autism.org. If you click the link, you'll be taken to a page sponsored by groups preaching that vaccines are unsafe and favoring "alternative" treatments that are untested and potentially dangerous.
Other good sites are linked to academic centers like the renowned Mayo Clinic, private groups like Kaiser Permanente (full disclosure: I'm a Kaiser doctor), and the government's Healthfinder. These sites feature accurate, up-to-date information that is regularly reviewed and updated.
By whom? Every group has their own agenda. You can't say autism.org has inaccurate, biased information, then say that groups like Kaiser Permanente don't have any incentive to promote one view over another.
But I completely agree with the article itself. Everyone knows there are bad doctors out there as well as good ones, just like any other profession, and the internet has become an essential tool in finding out not just health information, but information on your doctor as well. You can find information on your doctor you could never find before, and why not? They handle your most sensitive information, and literally have your life in their hands. You have a right to know about them as well.
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As in most industries
it is criminal what people are allowed to get away with.
When I was young, I had bad post nasal drip. I was told an operation would fix it. I had the operation, it did not fix it.
A decade or two later, when I became aware of diet and its connection to allergies and did research on and off the internet, I found out I had a slight wheat and milk allergy.
Well, we all know, the industrifood complex loves to stuff highly processed wheat and milk ingredients in everything.
Once I stopped eating those two things and all the foods that might have a chance of having milk or wheat products, the post nasal drip magically vanished like *that*.
You know in the industry you are working in that people working in that industry are often incompetent, arrogant, egotistic. Why are doctors any different?
The doc misdiagnosed me because he knew less than God, and he was shielded from harm because he could act like that was the best thing he knew how to do to resolve the situation.
Money plays into this too. He earned more on the operation than if he had not operated on me.
Meanwhile, I TOOK ON THE RISK of a botched operation.
Ironically, the anti-milk and wheat allergy contingent (the food conglomerates and their henchmen) still has its mitts deep in the misdirection and misinformation. Look up the Wikipedia entry on "food allergies" and you can see how severely they downplay wheat and milk allergies.
You want to know why the West is epidemically obese? Eating the putrid junk the industrifood complexes put out, which inflames our bodies with free floating allergens from wheat, milk, never mind all the chemicals they stuff in the food which also causes our bodies to go into immune system overdrive fighting off the invading substances.
I ate badly for three days in a row last week. I am closely tuned to my body now and can see the effects of what I eat the next day or even within minutes. By the third day, my whole body was aching, my joints were in pain.
It is criminally ridiculous the bullshit BOTH the food companies and the medical industry get away with everyday.
And people wonder why I have no faith in humanity. We are supposed to all get sick and die so rich people can earn another Jaguar, mink coat or Harvard education for their kids.
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OMG
I just got the title.
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I'll Just Say This...
Speaking as someone with way too much experience as a patient, I'm sure there are some people who don't know the difference between MedlinePlus.com and MedicalCharlatansAreUs.com. But overall, the internet is an unparalleled tool for learning and getting all your ducks in a row in that awful interval between the biopsy and when you talk to your doctor, or between the time you notice symptoms and haven't yet seen a doctor. It won't tell you all you need to know, but it will help you track your symptoms better, and to ask smart questions. And that saves time for everybody.
A really good doctor appreciates this. If you encounter one who doesn't, there's only one thing to say: "goodbye."
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"Doesnt' seem ro have an interest"..is dead on...
Dr., I'm a perfect example for not only why patients go online but also proof off the successful results many of us find, and of the the failure of this new prescription drug plan
I was diagnosed with COPD many years ago-after having had chronic bronchitis for years.
But what I also had were unusual upper abdominal issues not characteristically found in a COPD diagnosis -(I learned that online) -but were brushed off by many disinterested doctors.
Things got worse -crippling me- at irregular intervals sending to the hospital repeatedly. And repeatedly wasting hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Then severe acid reflux problems developed. The one newer and more successful medicine to treat reflux was denied me because it was too expensive, instead given one brand of purple pill after another -with the reflux returning a few weeks later each time. Then more hard core drugs like Reglan -the Veterinarian's favorite -but with only temporary relief.
Finally I said enough -went online and found a wonderful site involving John Hopkins and several other well respected institutions offering a consensus on the top 4 things to treat reflux -and none of them involved any more drugs or medications -and please tell Dr. Haig not to insult the vast majority of us who know the difference between John Hopkins and Joe-Schmoe.
While I still have some symptoms they are completely manageable and tolerable, and while angering the pharmaceutical companies by taking no more drugs I haven't wasted a dime of valuable Medicare dollars or time in the hospital..
And isn't that what it's really all about?
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Wikipedia is not equal to Science
As a physician, I often refer my patients to specific websites for information or useful tools in managing their health. I find that the biggest problem with random Googling isn't erroneous self-diagnosis, but the widespread availability of dangerous, unsupported information about health and disease management. The popularized autism-vaccine connection is one example. Another is the overemphasis on rare or questionable side effects of medication, which may lead patients to refuse appropriate treatment on false pretenses. This is a problem I encounter frequently in my asthma/allergy practice.
It's very difficult for the lay person to differentiate between a thoughtful, well-substantiated health website, and a slick, attractive website of an individual or group with an agenda. A big factor in this problem is the poor scientific education most Americans receive. We simply aren't taught the difference between scientific method and anecdotes, which in the mind of most people, equates double-blind, peer-reviewed data with the latest bubba-miser making the e-mail circuit.
Thanks to Dr. Parikh for his website recommendations.