Healthcare and the Internet
Updated June 08, 2015.
Q. What if a doctor isn't very receptive to a patient's attempts to participate in healthcare decisions?
A. I also surveyed doctors about this for my second book. I found that doctors who were most uncomfortable with that had had prior bad experiences. They had experiences with past patients who used information gathered to challenge their care, rather than enhance it. They believed it was a scenario of "a little bit of knowledge " being dangerous.
Their point was that an article meant for the medical press is easily misinterpreted by lay persons and can be conveyed as such to the consumer.
Q. Are there times when the patient should not become involved in his or her own healthcare?
A. These are generally rare circumstances. In psychiatry, we have advised some patients not to review information in special circumstances, such as a psychosis in which the patient?s judgment or capacity to interpret the information correctly is compromised.
Q. Any further comments you would like to make?
A. Think of the Internet as another tool to help you and your doctor achieve maximum health. It will not have all the answers to your questions, but it can be a part of the picture along with the other tools used by your physician to best diagnosis you as a patient.
Q. What if a doctor isn't very receptive to a patient's attempts to participate in healthcare decisions?
A. I also surveyed doctors about this for my second book. I found that doctors who were most uncomfortable with that had had prior bad experiences. They had experiences with past patients who used information gathered to challenge their care, rather than enhance it. They believed it was a scenario of "a little bit of knowledge " being dangerous.
Their point was that an article meant for the medical press is easily misinterpreted by lay persons and can be conveyed as such to the consumer.
Q. Are there times when the patient should not become involved in his or her own healthcare?
A. These are generally rare circumstances. In psychiatry, we have advised some patients not to review information in special circumstances, such as a psychosis in which the patient?s judgment or capacity to interpret the information correctly is compromised.
Q. Any further comments you would like to make?
A. Think of the Internet as another tool to help you and your doctor achieve maximum health. It will not have all the answers to your questions, but it can be a part of the picture along with the other tools used by your physician to best diagnosis you as a patient.
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