The dangers of Doctor Google

[Still Waters]

We’ve all done it: faced with vaguely worrying medical symptoms, an internet search is often simpler, and quicker, than waiting for a doctor’s appointment.

Tap in ‘headache’, ‘backache’, and ‘tired all the time’, and Dr Google has diagnosed you with some rare type of cancer.

Most people take this with a hefty pinch of salt. But new research has found that a quarter of British women have misdiagnosed themselves on the internet – then bought the wrong medicine to try to cure their illness. Online research is fine – but here’s why, often, only a real doctor will do...

http://www.dailymail...s-internet.html

[Simbi Laveau]

What do we do about the times doctors misdiagnose us,or miss cancer ,and we die ? As that happens too .

I

Edited August 12, 2012 by Simbi Laveau

[+and-then]

When my wife was attending medical school I learned about a malady that affects most med students at some point - they begin to take on the symptoms of the many diseases they are studying.... it's hilarious. And fortunately short lived.

[+and-then]

What do we do about the times doctors misdiagnose us,or miss cancer ,and we die ? As that happens too .

Simbi when I was in X-Ray school I learned that Radiologists typically have an "acceptable" margin of 10% of misses in what they are "reading". Of course not all miss that much. But the point is that we are all human, and prone to making mistakes. The odds are that if treatment is sought, the help will be there. Not sure if that will be as true under the new system that ACA is forming but I hope it will be....

[Simbi Laveau]

Well unfortunately,in the USA ,the rate of doctor misdiagnosis ,is 20% .

http://www.rightdiagnosis.com/mistakes/common.htm

And a lot of people die .

If that was a member of your family,is the 10% margin acceptable ?

The article is geared to frighten women into rushing to their md,who may be just as likely,to misdiagnose then.

One of my friends is lost a leg to cancer,and another went deaf,due to md misdiagnosis.

I know paramedics that diagnose better than doctors.

The reason this goes on in the USA,is because mds are not held accountable for KILLING .

Oh,my malpratice will cover it,la de da.

Moron mds killed my mother,my father,and my grandmother .

Somehow,I have very little faith in the system for some odd reason ....

[Super-Fly]

Id rather be put my faith in a doctor then google.

Go on Yahoo answers, funny stuff, most have huge mental issues and serious deadly ilnesses.

Pathetic really, most are kids im guessing.

Still,

Thanks,

[Coffey]

A doctor I used to have always checked the internet when diagnosing me. Hence why i used to see have him as my doctor. lol

[Space Commander Travis]

What do we do about the times doctors misdiagnose us,or miss cancer ,and we die ? As that happens too .

I

But decidedly less frequently than getting advice from Wikiepedia, or youTube.

[Space Commander Travis]

A doctor I used to have always checked the internet when diagnosing me. Hence why i used to see have him as my doctor. lol

yes, i expect he was looking up some specialist medical information, probably available only to those in the Medical profession.

[Still Waters]

I have looked at Google for information on certain medical procedures, or to find out about a prescription I've been prescribed. It has its uses but I'd never dream of using it as an alternative to a visit to my GP, that would be foolish.

[Keel M.]

Well unfortunately,in the USA ,the rate of doctor misdiagnosis ,is 20% .

http://www.rightdiag...akes/common.htm

And a lot of people die .

If that was a member of your family,is the 10% margin acceptable ?

The article is geared to frighten women into rushing to their md,who may be just as likely,to misdiagnose then.

One of my friends is lost a leg to cancer,and another went deaf,due to md misdiagnosis.

I know paramedics that diagnose better than doctors.

The reason this goes on in the USA,is because mds are not held accountable for KILLING .

Oh,my malpratice will cover it,la de da.

Moron mds killed my mother,my father,and my grandmother .

Somehow,I have very little faith in the system for some odd reason ....

Good luck finding a perfect fix for any ailment that is 100% guaranteed...

[orangepeaceful79]

Well unfortunately,in the USA ,the rate of doctor misdiagnosis ,is 20% .

http://www.rightdiag...akes/common.htm

And a lot of people die .

If that was a member of your family,is the 10% margin acceptable ?

The article is geared to frighten women into rushing to their md,who may be just as likely,to misdiagnose then.

One of my friends is lost a leg to cancer,and another went deaf,due to md misdiagnosis.

I know paramedics that diagnose better than doctors.

The reason this goes on in the USA,is because mds are not held accountable for KILLING .

Oh,my malpratice will cover it,la de da.

Moron mds killed my mother,my father,and my grandmother .

Somehow,I have very little faith in the system for some odd reason ....

Where in this article is the 20% you are claiming? I've read it 3 times and its nowhere. I see that 42% of people BELIEVE that they've been misdiagnosed. Which is a meaningless statistic because you can believe something whether its right or wrong.

It is tragic that you have experienced the death of your close family members. To say that a Dr. killed them is a pretty bold claim though.

Our medical system is admittedly dysfunctional at times and frustrating to boot. However its a far reach to think that I (and Google) know more about medicine than someone who went to school for the better part of a decade and lives and breathes it everyday. There are just so damn many things that can go wrong with the human body and often times they overlap. My own grandmother died in a hospital, from complications related to pneumonia and a fall - she was under the care of a doctor, but simply because she died in that Dr.'s care doesn't mean the doc killed her.

Again, sorry for your loss. Regardless of the cause - to lose a family member for any reason is awful.

[Junior Chubb]

Nothing better than a self diagnosis for scaring the life out of you.

I remember visiting an NHS walk in centre and watching the nurse go through a series of multiple choice questions on her screen to come up with a diagnosis of my condition.

I was waiting for her to say 'computer say no' when she stunned me with 'I don't know what is wrong with you'.

[Abramelin]

Scaremongering....

Yes, doctors make mistakes, yes, doctors are not perfect, yes, doctors do not walk on water.

They are humans like all of us.

Many complaining about health care wouldn't even be here bs-ing about it if it hadn't existed.

[Charlie Prime]

...new research has found that a quarter of British women have misdiagnosed themselves on the internet

I've not been impressed by the internet research skills of more than a quarter of the people I know.

More people are beginning to read the internet on tiny cell phone screens via "mobile-enabled" versions of websites.

Fewer people today receive a liberal education which taught students how to distinguish well versus poorly backed assertions.

More and more people today receive a technically oriented education which trains one to perform tasks, but does not teach them how to reason and eliminate nonsense.

[archer95446]

A friend of mine was having a lot of lower back pain. Her doctor said it was a bladder infection and prescribed antibiotics and gave her pain meds. The pain still persisted

after she had finished taking the antibiotics. She went back to the doctor and was told "again" that it was still a bladder infection and was given stronger antibiotics and more pain pills.

She still wasn't getting better, so she decided to get a second opinion (thankfully), well, it turned out that her "gall bladder" was causing the pain and needed to be

removed. She had the surgery last week and she isn't in any more pain!!! She is also happy that she doesn't need to take any more perscription pain meds, she was

scared that she was going to become dependent on them. It seems like doctors are misdiagnosing illnesses a lot more than they did in the past!!! Besides that,

they hand out perscriptions for pain pills way too much instead of doing the necessary testing to actually find out what is causing the pain and how to cure it permanently.

Personally, I look at the online medical sites first, before I go see a doctor. I figure that, no matter which choice I make (web MD sites or seeing a DR.), I will still have a 50/50 chance of finding out what is causing the health problem!!! (A lot of doctors these days, are only in the medical profession for the money and NOT because they care about helping

people get better!!!!!)

[Junior Chubb]

A friend of mine was having a lot of lower back pain. Her doctor said it was a bladder infection and prescribed antibiotics and gave her pain meds. The pain still persisted

after she had finished taking the antibiotics. She went back to the doctor and was told "again" that it was still a bladder infection and was given stronger antibiotics and more pain pills.

She still wasn't getting better, so she decided to get a second opinion (thankfully), well, it turned out that her "gall bladder" was causing the pain and needed to be

removed. She had the surgery last week and she isn't in any more pain!!! She is also happy that she doesn't need to take any more perscription pain meds, she was

scared that she was going to become dependent on them. It seems like doctors are misdiagnosing illnesses a lot more than they did in the past!!! Besides that,

they hand out perscriptions for pain pills way too much instead of doing the necessary testing to actually find out what is causing the pain and how to cure it permanently.

Personally, I look at the online medical sites first, before I go see a doctor. I figure that, no matter which choice I make (web MD sites or seeing a DR.), I will still have a 50/50 chance of finding out what is causing the health problem!!! (A lot of doctors these days, are only in the medical profession for the money and NOT because they care about helping

people get better!!!!!)

Don't forget Doctors are people, and some people are good at their jobs, some people are not, some people care about their work, some people do not. This situation is not helped by the army of hypercondriacs out there, wasting doctors time, filling up appointment times claiming they are ill based on 'bad feelings' and Google diagnosis'. The system is abused from both ends.