Letters to the Editor
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Google can be a huge help
Physician's assistants and doctors spend very little time on patients during visits, and are often wrong. Googling symptoms can be the only source of good information if your doctor or PA is distracted or just dumb.
A month after I was exposed to someone with a bad case of mononucleosis, I came down with a high fever, lack of appetite, and extreme fatigue. I went to the doctor for a note to take to my boss saying that I would be goofy (and miss a lot of work) for the next six to eight weeks. My doctor promptly claimed that I had internal bleeding and that I needed emergency surgery. Fortunately the people at the hospital sent me home uncut.
A week later I went back asking for the note saying I had mono, and he sent me for blood tests for hypothyroidism. I had googled my symptoms and knew that I would have been gaining weight with hypothyroidism, not losing it rapidly as I had been. The doctor included a mono test "to make me happy" and to make me shut up about me claiming that I had mono.
Guess what- Google and common sense beat the "trained professional" and I finally got my note when the tests came back. Good thing I knew from Google about not drinking alcohol for several weeks, as my doctor never told me not to drink and it took him three weeks to make a simple diagnosis.
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Check it on the Internet
I had a small skin eruption like a pimple on my face that persisted for months, reoccurred for years and migrated from one area to another as if it had a mind of its own. I went to several physicians and had the growths removed surgically three or four times to no avail. One plastic surgeon made an inch and a half long incision to remove a growth the size of a bb only to have the entire incision become infected. After a biopsy which described the condition, the internet site I finally went to stated that surgery fails in 70 percent of the cases and that a cortizone salve is effective. Two weeks later my face was clear. My physician prescribed Vioxx for a sore shoulder. I went to the internet and discovered that it doubles the risk of heart attack. I have cardiac arrhythmia and didn't take the medication. It was later taken off the market. I suffered a pulmonary embolism. My physician's nurse practitioner recommended a stress test. The internet informed me that any physical activity could have caused a heart attack or stroke. After being admitted to the hospital the attending pulmonary specialist would not let me get out of bed for 48 hours until the clots inside my lungs were stabilized. I think some doctors fear being exposed as incompetent.I never take a new medication without checking it out on the Internet first.
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Problems caused by a lack of critical thinking
I am a googler and I have never really had problems with physicians because of it. However, I do understand how it could be a problem. If my students (I teach an undergradute class in health psychology) are any indication, many people lack the scientific critical thinking skills required to separate the wheat from the chaff.
Both high schools and universities need to make scientific literacy a primary educational goal. Lives can literally depend upon it.
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The God Complex
Although not entirely to blame for this, doctors are one of the top 10 causes of death in the U.S. (I've read they're #3, but I haven't confirmed that). This, more often than not, is the result of unexpected drug interactions. Doctors used to be intimately familiar with the drugs they prescribed and had much more flexibility in how they dispensed those drugs, tailoring the dosage for each patient. But at some point, the AMA made the decision to remove doctors from this sphere of their profession and the pharmaceutical industry as we know it, was born. Now doctors must rely upon what the pharmaceutical industry tells them about the drugs they prescribe and they have no flexibility in dosage amounts. On top of that, it would undermine the medical industry's ability to be profitable if they actually understood how the body works and how to prevent disease. No, they are more about prescribing a drug to mask a disease once it has manifested itself. Then, added on top of everything else, are the insurance carriers -- the unnecessary middleman. The insurance industry is responsible for preventing many people from receiving the medical care they need, either because people can't afford insurance and are therefore unable to obtain medical care, or their insurance carrier caps their coverage or denies coverage for particular ailments. So, is it any wonder that people are visiting medical self-help sites by the droves? After all, it is not doctors, but our own bodies, that really heal us.
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Again, I suggest to those who might think that the current healthcare system is so badly broken; don't use it if you feel that way.
If you think doctors are a "leading cause of death"* don't go to them; you'll eliminate that "risk."
If you think big pharma is ripping you off, don't buy their products.
If you think big teaching hospitals are horrible, don't go to them.
If you think health insurance is a dangerous ripoff, don't buy it. Save your money, negotiate your own rates, pay cash, and make all the personal decisions that you want. (This is not such a facetious idea; this is the one sure-fire way to restrain rising health care costs.)
Otherwise, enjoy the fact that in 21st century America, we have the finest and most unimaginably advanced system of health care in the history of planet Earth.
*Where, I wonder, would the category of "Doctors" rate on list of the "leading causes of the cure of illness" and the list of things responsible for the "transformation of diseases from incurable to curable"? Somewhere above the category of 'holistic naturapaths'?
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Dude
LOLZ! @ doctor bashing!
If you hate us so much, don't come to us! There are plenty of ppl who appreciate our hard work, dedication, and sacrifice we make to do this job. I just love the way ppl bash us docs, and then love on their insurance compnies and trial lawyers.
I've never Googled a Doctor but now I probably will -- if only to make sure they can manage entire Englis words.