Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

The trouble with Dr. Google

Dr. Martin Young
Patient
August 27, 2011
Share
Tweet
Share

Things have been a bit tough of late, the bad economy is starting to bite, and you’re feeling the pressure.  To top it all, your body has been acting strangely in ways it never has before.  Your muscles twitch in funny areas for hours at a time, you tire easily, and you have fleeting pins and needles in your limbs.  Over the weeks these symptoms have become worse. The last straw comes when you notice it is getting harder to swallow your food without thinking about it.

You do what any overworked but doctor-shy person does in a free moment – you consult Dr. Google.  He takes your request in a fraction of a second. You learn the muscle twitches are called fasciculations.  You enter “muscle fasciculations, muscle fatigue and swallowing difficulty” into the Search window.

And Dr. Google offers suggestions straight away.  Every site on the long list brings confirmation.  Some of them know exactly how you feel, and what your symptoms are.  You have motor neuron disease at least, or perhaps, if you are lucky, multiple sclerosis.  While the latter conjures up visions of being wheelchair bound at your kids’ weddings in a decade or so, eating your wedding cake by a tube, the former strikes terror into your heart.  You read the median survival rate for motor neuron disease is between three and five years.  Death comes by drowning in your own spit.  Some people live longer.  You read that Steven Hawking is one of the “lucky” ones.  He has a brain to entertain himself, a job where he thinks all day, and all sorts of fancy machines to talk and stay alive.  You have two young kids, a job that needs you to be healthy, a family, a spouse.

The diagnosis knocks you off your feet.  Every day that passes your symptoms increase.  Your appointment with a neurologist, pushed ahead of the normal waiting time by a worried family doctor, is still three weeks away.  You cannot get to sleep at night.  When you do, you wake in the early hours, sometimes due to the twitching of muscles in your legs, or in your face, or in your groin.  You were stressed before the diagnosis, now your anxiety goes through the roof.

Your kids pick up that something is wrong, but there is a conspiracy of silence at home.  No one else must know.  The possibilities are not to be discussed until the diagnosis is confirmed.  You begin to wish multiple sclerosis upon yourself rather than motor neuron disease. For three long weeks a sense of impending doom hangs over your household.

When the long dreaded but highly anticipated neurologist’s appointment finally arrives, the result is a dramatic shock.  You are incredulous, disbelieving. “Anxiety?”

“That’s all?” you ask in shock.  “But I feel so terrible!”  Exactly.  Anxiety does that to people.  A wave of profound relief and feeling foolish washes over you.  It takes a long time to convince yourself that your real, live, speaking, laughing neurologist is correct.

How could Dr. Google be so wrong?

For a start, Dr. Google does not know anything about you.  He has not asked you any questions.  You asked him, “What could cause such and such?”  And he provided an answer.  But this was not information tailored to your history, environment, and the socioeconomic and external pressures on you.  The fine nuances of your symptoms, dissected and probed by your real neurologist suggested the most likely diagnosis during the history.  Dr. Google did not even examine you.

Dr. Google does on occasion suggest correct diagnoses when asked the right questions — social media is full of these stories.  But the stories like yours do not really reach the media, and so there is no real way of knowing how often Dr. Google’s diagnoses are as wrong and as potentially damaging as yours was.

What should you do?  For a start, from now on put your trust into real live doctors where you can as an initial step, with Dr. Google as a reference after a diagnosis if you need one.

Could you sue Dr. Google, as you would a live doctor, for wrong diagnosis, pain and suffering?

Good luck with that.  Dr Google’s work address, to which you must have the court papers delivered, is not listed anywhere.

ADVERTISEMENT

Even on Google.

Martin Young is an otolaryngologist and founder and CEO of ConsentCare.

Submit a guest post and be heard on social media’s leading physician voice.

Prev

MKSAP: 58-year-old man is evaluated for increasing fatigue

August 27, 2011 Kevin 0
…
Next

The ethics of being on a pharmaceutical advisory board

August 27, 2011 Kevin 2
…

Tagged as: Health IT, Patients

Post navigation

< Previous Post
MKSAP: 58-year-old man is evaluated for increasing fatigue
Next Post >
The ethics of being on a pharmaceutical advisory board

ADVERTISEMENT

More by Dr. Martin Young

  • Nelson Mandela: His doctors and nurses also need our thoughts

    Dr. Martin Young
  • a desk with keyboard and ipad with the kevinmd logo

    Why health journalists need medical training

    Dr. Martin Young
  • a desk with keyboard and ipad with the kevinmd logo

    The healing power of ice cream

    Dr. Martin Young

More in Patient

  • AI’s role in streamlining colorectal cancer screening [PODCAST]

    The Podcast by KevinMD
  • There’s no one to drive your patient home

    Denise Reich
  • Dying is a selfish business

    Nancie Wiseman Attwater
  • A story of a good death

    Carol Ewig
  • We are warriors: doctors and patients

    Michele Luckenbaugh
  • Patient care is not a spectator sport

    Jim Sholler
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • The human case for preserving the nipple after mastectomy

      Thomas Amburn, MD | Conditions
    • Nuclear verdicts and rising costs: How inflation is reshaping medical malpractice claims

      Robert E. White, Jr. & The Doctors Company | Policy
    • IMGs are the future of U.S. primary care

      Adam Brandon Bondoc, MD | Physician
    • Why I left the clinic to lead health care from the inside

      Vandana Maurya, MHA | Conditions
    • How doctors can think like CEOs [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • A surgeon’s testimony, probation, and resignation from a professional society

      Stephen M. Cohen, MD, MBA | Physician
  • Past 6 Months

    • Health equity in Inland Southern California requires urgent action

      Vishruth Nagam | Policy
    • How restrictive opioid policies worsen the crisis

      Kayvan Haddadan, MD | Physician
    • Why primary care needs better dermatology training

      Alex Siauw | Conditions
    • Why pain doctors face unfair scrutiny and harsh penalties in California

      Kayvan Haddadan, MD | Physician
    • How a doctor defied a hurricane to save a life

      Dharam Persaud-Sharma, MD, PhD | Physician
    • What street medicine taught me about healing

      Alina Kang | Education
  • Recent Posts

    • Affordable postpartum hemorrhage solutions every OB/GYN can use worldwide [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • When cancer costs too much: Why financial toxicity deserves a place in clinical conversations

      Yousuf Zafar, MD | Physician
    • Psychiatrist tests ketogenic diet for mental health benefits

      Zane Kaleem, MD | Conditions
    • The hidden rewards of a primary care career

      Jerina Gani, MD, MPH | Physician
    • Why physicians should not be their own financial planner

      Michelle Neiswender, CFP | Finance
    • Why doctors regret specialty choices in their 30s

      Jeremiah J. Whittington, MD | Physician

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

View 49 Comments >

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • The human case for preserving the nipple after mastectomy

      Thomas Amburn, MD | Conditions
    • Nuclear verdicts and rising costs: How inflation is reshaping medical malpractice claims

      Robert E. White, Jr. & The Doctors Company | Policy
    • IMGs are the future of U.S. primary care

      Adam Brandon Bondoc, MD | Physician
    • Why I left the clinic to lead health care from the inside

      Vandana Maurya, MHA | Conditions
    • How doctors can think like CEOs [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • A surgeon’s testimony, probation, and resignation from a professional society

      Stephen M. Cohen, MD, MBA | Physician
  • Past 6 Months

    • Health equity in Inland Southern California requires urgent action

      Vishruth Nagam | Policy
    • How restrictive opioid policies worsen the crisis

      Kayvan Haddadan, MD | Physician
    • Why primary care needs better dermatology training

      Alex Siauw | Conditions
    • Why pain doctors face unfair scrutiny and harsh penalties in California

      Kayvan Haddadan, MD | Physician
    • How a doctor defied a hurricane to save a life

      Dharam Persaud-Sharma, MD, PhD | Physician
    • What street medicine taught me about healing

      Alina Kang | Education
  • Recent Posts

    • Affordable postpartum hemorrhage solutions every OB/GYN can use worldwide [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • When cancer costs too much: Why financial toxicity deserves a place in clinical conversations

      Yousuf Zafar, MD | Physician
    • Psychiatrist tests ketogenic diet for mental health benefits

      Zane Kaleem, MD | Conditions
    • The hidden rewards of a primary care career

      Jerina Gani, MD, MPH | Physician
    • Why physicians should not be their own financial planner

      Michelle Neiswender, CFP | Finance
    • Why doctors regret specialty choices in their 30s

      Jeremiah J. Whittington, MD | Physician

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

The trouble with Dr. Google
49 comments

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...