Doctors Hate the Internet

Yes, doctors hate the internet, we get it already!  I’ve seen countless cartoons dedicated to this subject, but didn’t expect to see one actually posted on one of the doors at my doctor’s office.  Of course, I was mostly surprised because so many doctors lack a sense of humor, he, he.  The caption read something like “Patients diagnosing themselves on the internet are charged extra.”  Now I love a good laugh and thought it was cute until I came across a post last night in someone else’s blog who was suffering emotionally because of a doctor’s tongue lashing for having asked about something she had read.

In my opinion, doctors respond negatively for three reasons:  1) there’s a lot of inaccurate information and out-and-out misinformation floating around and  2) they feel threatened by the abundance of excellent, accurate, and timely information and  3) any two people can look at one simple thing and draw two different conclusions about it.  I’m sure there are countless other reasons, but those seem to be the most accepted ones.  The problem I have with all of it is the way the doctor approaches the situation. 

First and foremost, no patient should ever be criticized for taking an interest in their own healthcare.  In the post I referenced above, the doctor went so far as to tell the patient how tired he had grown of having to “take time from other patients to explain information collected from the internet by patients like you.”  Well, excuse me doc, but isn’t she paying for your time?  When you provide me services for free, THEN and ONLY THEN can you tell me what we are going to discuss.  You’re on my dime now, baby!

I often make comparisons between the medical community and the legal community because, as a paralegal, I understand how law works, but I am still baffled by medicine and this is another area of extreme difference.  When a client walks into a lawyers office wanting to sue someone for alienation of affections, the lawyer instructs the paralegal to research the subject.  The paralegal looks at the statutes and case law, collecting all the information he/she can find and reviews it thoroughly.  As laws are ever changing, we do what is called “shepardizing,” which is checking for the most recent updates on all law regarding the issue.  The shepardizing tool of choice… the internet supported programs like WestLaw!  Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but doctors don’t have what would be the equivilent of a paralegal.  So when I go in with a broken arm, my doctor isn’t going to invest hours of research to make certain he is providing me the most up-to-the-minute treatment.  What if in Europe, they developed a substance that once injected into the bone would instantly heal it, but because my doctor thought he knew everything and didn’t feel the need to do any research, he opted to cast it and send me home?  Until doctors are willing to invest the time the patient is willing to invest in researching their illness or condition, they had better learn to shut the hell up about it! 

In the meantime, I suppose we will have to endure the condescending cartoons and remaks about being a pro-active patient, but it is the patient who gets the last laugh in the end.  More and more doctors are coming to appreciate the fact that patients are willing to take some responsibility in their own care and are working to help patients learn which sites are providing reliable information.  Over time, the “flying-solo” doctor will be phased out and good riddance!  Dr. Harvey Cushing once said, “A physician is obligated to consider more than a diseased organ, more even than the whole man — he must view the man in his world.” The ability for doctors to do that stopped when they ceased to make housecalls!  Today, only the patient knows his world.