Internet is no substitute for doctor

Chennai: When a doctor prescribed a nebuliser - a drug delivery device to administer medication - to a 96-year-old woman suffering from asthma, her grandson asked her not to do so due to serious side-effects. He had read this on Face­book. From the side-effect­s of Crocin, which is an over-the-counter medicin­e, to morphine, everything is available on the Inte­rnet and patients surf it to find out the side-effects or symptoms they have.

Dr K. Rajkumar, consultant pulmonologist, Fortis Malar Hospital, says, “Most new patients I see ask many questions that they read about on the Internet. Recently, I saw a patient who complained of chest and back pain and came up with this medical term ‘spina bifidia’. He had done extensive search and asked me what to do. I was not able to react to his question.”

He says that patients can always clarify doubts and discuss them with doctors. “But don’t rely on the Int­ernet. If you don’t trust a doctor, ask for a second opinion.

Every drug has side-effects, but we doctors know the dosage and wh­om to prescribe it for,” sa­ys Dr Rajkumar, explai­ni­n­g how a 24-year-old IT professional visited him wit­h signs of tuberculosis.

A test for TB confirmed it and the doctor gave drugs for treatment. “He consulted another doctor who prescribed the same drugs. But this man searched the Internet and read the side-effects of those drugs and stopped taking them. After two months, his parents visited me saying that he was suffering severely. When he returned, he was diagnosed with miliary TB, the most severe form of TB. Had he taken the trea­tment, it would have been very different, but the tuberculosis had bec­ome advanced,” expl­ained the pulmonologist. Prof K.S. Ganesan, professor of cardiovascular and thoracic surgery, Raj­iv Gandhi government gen­eral hospital, said rec­ently, he had performed angi­oplasty and the pati­ent asked many questions that he said he had read abo­ut on the Net.

Doctors point out that patients can clarify any doubt, but not depend on the information overload that is easily available. “Don’t be misguided as inappropriate knowledge is not good,” cautions Dr Rajkumar.