alekhkhanna
Skilled
Hypochondria is a major issue. We used to see patients who were sure their headache means brain cancer because someone on the net said it !In my opinion, that's like calling a knife bad. Its just a tool, how its used by an individual determines if the consequence is good or bad.
I agree on that people in general looking up symptoms on Google is a bad idea., they don't understand basic principles like think horses not zebras, but some sites like mayo clinic provide really good information for patients on what to expect during surgeries, what kind of food to eat, medicine before/after food, who should avoid it etc.
Go to any medical college, and you will notice many the 1st and 2nd year students thinking they have all the diseases in the world - it's information overload, and even when you are studying such things closely, your brain needs a lot of time segregate wheat from the chaff. That's why we say experience matters.
Now imagine everybody and their dad turning Google doctors. That shit is bad, really bad.
While Mayo clinic and a bunch of other sites do help with excellent general info, Rxlist, drugs.com, etc are serving as self medication tools where you can search for any drug, get to know dosage, and in a country like India, buy it without a prescription, and self medicate. Worse, tons of patients argue with doctors when they don't agree with the patient's "Google" assessment. And they keep on changing doctors till one agrees with them. It's similar to a political bubble - finding and magnifying your ideology and thoughts while keeping others out.