Classroom enlightenment

We've now finished with all final presentations, and, as one might expect from classroom presentations, it was all very educational. A stand-out for me: Selling the disease.

I found Halvard's talk about drug companies putting up sites to help people self-diagnose various diseases so they might head off to their doctor with a firm idea of what is wrong with them and what medications they might need completely fascinating from several different angles. Combined with the talk on healthcare Websites, I can see why my doctor always rolls her eyes when I say something like, "Well, I was looking on the Internet, and..."

It seems that Internet can be a weapon for good or evil in the fight for good health. On the one hand, people may be able to learn how to better care for themselves and cut down on unnecessary doctor's visits, ostensibly (but probably not actually) reducing healthcare costs. On the other hand self-diagnosis, often perhaps over-diagnosing, can lead to even more healthcare furor, raising costs to meet demand.

Either way, ultimately what may be at risk is credibility. Can you trust healthcare advice from the Internet (or any advice, really, but that's a whole other topic), and does selling a disease diminish that trust, or is it a line on further information?