Should Doctors Google Patients?
from the information-wants-to-be-free dept
We recently had a story about an article in the Journal of Medical Ethics that recommended doctors avoid using social networks entirely, because of potential ethical issues related to patient information. That seems a bit extreme. It seems like there would be ways to use social networks without compromising your ethics. However, a recent article in the LA Times takes this discussion a step further. Beyond discussing social networking usage and "friending" between doctors and patients, it wonders if it's okay for doctors to do internet searches on their patients to find out more info about them (or even see if they're lying about stuff). Of course, this seems like a bit of a flip side to the typical complaint from some doctors who don't like that patients are searching for information online themselves, though usually more for self-diagnosis. The article suggests that it really depends on the doctor, the patient and the situation, but it seems that many doctors are afraid to search for info about their patients.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: doctors, patients, search, social networking
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There is always the what if scenario of: "But like what if like some guy hates you and makes a web page posing as you and how much you want to get AIDS and you go to your doctor and he's all like, 'dude, do you have AIDS?' and you're all like, 'no way man', but then he's all like, 'but your web page says you want to get it.'"
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What doc has the time?
Tempest in a teacup. Maybe the authors of the JMEdEthics article really need to get out and talk to docs who spend their days working for a living. The LATimes article is a joke, as far as I can see. Is there a "silly season" for health writers, or is it post Obamacare mania?
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Right On
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Knowledge is power
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Docs
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