Googler Patient and Pompous Doctor
Recently Time Magazine printed an article about doctors and their aversion to Googlers; specifically, patients who check out their diagnoses before coming to the doctor. Network World has a rebuttal to some of the doctor's somewhat pompous comments.
Haig authored this diatribe in Time about his distaste for patients who have the audacity to research their own medical conditions online. The screed and its headline – “When the Patient is a Googler” – drip with contempt for these medical do-it-yourselfers and their inability to trust their doctors over whatever latest quackery they’ve stumbled upon via the Internet.
My point is not that he doesn’t have one, but that in making it in such a ham-handed, even mean-spirited manner he ends up saying more about himself and his own shortcomings than he does the difficult patients.
Haig authored this diatribe in Time about his distaste for patients who have the audacity to research their own medical conditions online. The screed and its headline – “When the Patient is a Googler” – drip with contempt for these medical do-it-yourselfers and their inability to trust their doctors over whatever latest quackery they’ve stumbled upon via the Internet.
My point is not that he doesn’t have one, but that in making it in such a ham-handed, even mean-spirited manner he ends up saying more about himself and his own shortcomings than he does the difficult patients.
While it's true that Googlers may make doctors lives more complex, it's also the case that they come in better-informed, and often don't need a lot of explanation with regards to their possible illnesses. At the very least, a little better bedside manner might be asked of this particular doctor.
