Patient vs Physician: An internet story

I admit it. I've got a little bit of hypochondriac in me. Growing up we always had a few of those self diagnostic manuals on the bookshelf. From the time I was old enough to read them and follow a flow chart, I began killing myself off with rare and mysterious diseases. The more I read, the more symptoms I felt. When companies like WebMD hit the web, my paranoia became exponentially worse.

During one visit to see my PC doc, I told him about this and asked if he believed such sites as being healthy. He chuckled and responded that it was the same sort of feelings in him that had driven him down the path to becoming a physician and the same feelings that almost pushed him out of med school. He told me how common it is for med students to imagine they have the symptoms of whatever debilitating disease they are learning about at any given time. His advice to me was to stay away from the self diagnosis sites as much as I could, but if I did venture on, treat them like you should treat a trip to Las Vegas - for entertainment purposes only.

Since then it hasn't been an issue for me, but my little experience has made me think about the affects of such sites on the way people visit and interact with their physicians and on the doctor/patient relationship. There is an article on the NY Times site this week on just this subject. Enjoy!

A Doctor’s Disdain for Medical ‘Googlers’

-WJ