Everybody is terribly health conscious these days. Put this together with an
ever-increasing addiction to the Internet, and it鈥檚 no surprise that many people
are becoming cyberchondriacs. Family doctors are bracing themselves for an
epidemic of 鈥淚PO鈥濃�擨nternet Print Out fever. IPO sufferers search out
information on their aches and pains, print out details of their alleged
ailments and hand over reams of laser-printed Web pages to their befuddled
doctors to 鈥減rove鈥� what is wrong with them. It can only get worse. New websites
pop up all the time promising sound, expert advice on all things medical. But
how do you know that this advice is not biased? Manufacturers of drugs and
health products have deep pockets鈥攁nd pay to advertise on several of the
sites which have come to rely on their funding.
The creators of US-based www.WebMD.com insist that they maintain editorial
independence by making all editorial staff work separately from those who pull
in the Web ads. Britain鈥檚 www.NetDoctor.co.uk makes similar claims for its
advice. Both sites are news-led with separate areas for the public and health
professionals, although the news in NetDoctor is slightly more political,
focusing on issues such as National Health Service waiting lists.
The British government hopes its site (www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk) might relieve
some of the pressure on the NHS by giving the ill鈥攁nd especially the
not-quite-so-ill鈥攕ome idea of whether they really need medical attention.
But, like the commercial sites, it stresses that surfers should seek medical
advice before acting on any information.
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There are sites for the experts too. With medical blunders now getting
high-profile press treatment, particularly in Britain, doctors might feel they
need a regular dose of the latest developments鈥攑erhaps on
www.medscape.com. For diligent medics and biomedical researchers, there鈥檚 plenty
of useful input from leading authorities.
