Problems with Internet Healthcare Information

Patients are using the internet more and more to educate themselves about their disease and the treatment options available for relief of symptoms and/or a cure. Our physicians are seeing a growing number of patients coming in with printouts from the internet of what they want as their treatment. Is this benefitting the patient’s medical needs?

There are several reputable website that offer expert opinions about treatments for particular diseases. At the end of each page, there is a disclaimer to call a doctor if…

These websites can be very useful to explain the patient’s diagnosis in layman’s terms and to give information regarding what to expect during testing and treatment as well as the outside resources available to the patient. These reputable websites should be used in conjunction with physician information and NOT instead of or to dictate to the physician about the treatment regimen.

Blogs and information farming websites create pages and pages of information on the web…. some good and some crap. In a recent search on a skin rash, the reputable websites said what the treating physician said… “It will go away in time and any treatment will cause scarring or infection”. A blog said to “Heat up a pin under hot water to sterilize. Remove the core. Use an alcohol soaked q-tip to clean the hole. Put antibiotic ointment on with a bandage. Repeat if it returns in the future.” Anything that starts with hot water being hot enough to sterilize should be ignored. This is a simple example but imagine the same type of information given on a blog and it is not as obvious to the reader that it is crap.

It is unfortunate that a patient seeking a better sounding answer than what a board certified physician has told them will seek information on the internet written by anyone. Yes… there are physician out there who shouldn’t be practicing medicine but that is why a second opinion from an unaffiliated physician is always recommended as well as a check of board certification and reputation.

Several patients have come in to Radiation Oncology demanding treatment regimens from all sorts of references. We have several patients that come back after refusing standard treatment who are in pretty bad shape because they didn’t follow a standard treatment protocol. These standards in Radiation Oncology are based on clinical trials from multiple institutions with multiple physicians and researchers from the entire medical community… These treatment regimens are not a conspiracy to make more money or keep companies in business. In fact, most of the standard treatments are as effective as some of the pricier alternatives. Those pricier alternatives are driving healthcare costs upwards.

So be caution on the internet. There is a wealth of information available at your finger tips. But use the information from only reputable websites and in conjunction with your physicians. Be weary of the claims that cures are easy or the medical profession is all about making money. Most of the medical community that is “doing it right” is struggling to avoid lay-offs in this economy.

I wish you the best of luck with your fight to beat disease.

And that’s Just About It!