On-Line Medicine: Cures in our computers?
August 27, 1995
From Correspondent Elizabeth Schwartz
ATLANTA (CNN) -- When Brant Elliott found out he had prostate cancer, he visited the doctor. His daughter, on the other hand, visited the computer. The Internet has made it easier for patients to research their illnesses. On the Internet and on commercial on-line services such as CompuServe and Prodigy, patients can find thousands of medical studies and government reports that used to be hard to get unless you were a health professional.
"You just can't rely on your own doctor. You have to take charge of your own illness, your own health yourself," said Elliott's daughter, Barbara Moskowitz.
Some doctors say it will require both consumers and professionals to go through a real change in roles. "You'll have to give up the whole model of Marcus Welby, doctor knows best, put all the trust in your doctor and don't bother your pretty little head about it," said Dr. Tom Ferguson, author of "Health Online." (400K AIFF sound)
Another postitive benefit from checking an on-line service is that the computer allows patients to talk to each other. When Elliott developed an excruciating pain in his back, his doctors couldn't explain it. So his daughter joined a computer bulletin board where people exchange advice on-line. One board member referred Moskowitz to a doctor in her area. The doctor discovered a tumor in her father's spine and removed it. Mosckowitz is forever grateful "Without the computer I don't know if he would still be here. He would be paralyzed by now," she said.
What do doctors think of their patients going on-line and doing their own research? Do they worry about the quality of advice being given out in cyberspace? There's no official authority checking on-line information for accuracy. Said one pharmacist, "Most of it is anecdotal, there are no references, there's no science to it, so it could be very dangerous."
But Dr. Alan Beer, a fertility specialist at the Chicago Medical School, isn't concerned. He's found that people use the computer as a way to find the right doctor, not as a tool to treat themselves. Patients have come to him recently after using the Internet to find out about his area of expertise. "Probably two or three times a week, a couple will appear from out of state, and when asked, `How did you hear about the program,' they say, `I was talking on the Internet or on an on-line service.'"
And some doctors are jumping on the on-line bandwagon themselves, giving advice over the computer. But the majority of users are patients and their families, one giant support group in cyberspace.
(Part 1 of a 3 part series)
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