The Dangers of Web MD

The Dangers of Web MDBefore the days of the internet, how did we properly diagnose ourselves with forty-three potential diseases? Oh, that’s right. We didn’t. We allowed actual medical professionals to do that for us. Before we jumped to the conclusion that the rash on our feet is some untreatable type of cancer and we’ll be dead in a month, we used to actually go to the doctor to find out what was going on. Nine times out of ten, our doctors told us that we had an allergic reaction, recommended some sort of cortisone cream from Rite Aid, and sent us home.

Then the internet came along and ruined the healthcare industry for every professional within the walls of physician’s offices. When people used to walk into offices worried about what they might have, they now come in convinced that they have ten potentially deadly diseases and they expect these offices to perform an insane battery of tests. They are often really forceful and rude, especially for people whose only medical education came from WebMD. While the general public feels empowered at the ability to diagnose themselves, the people who’ve chosen to join the healer profession are frustrated.

The Danger Zone

Certainly WebMD is incredibly useful for helping people to understand complicated diagnoses or to help find out holistic ways to treat common illnesses. However, when it comes to people who have developed an innocuous rash, WebMD is a great way for laymen to convince themselves that they’re dying. If you google a rash, it’s going to offer worst-case scenarios first and of course, they’re the ones people are going to listen to.

There are a lot of hypochondriacs out there in the world and WebMD is fueling their fire. Of course, many people would argue that a doctor’s job is to treat their patients, and it is. However, their job is not to spend three hours allaying the fears of someone who has been surfing the internet for three days, paying attention to only the symptom they have before diagnosing themselves. This is the issue that helps doctor’s offices become so congested and appointment times run over. If you enter a fever as a symptom into WebMD, you can get anything from a GI bug to Leukemia, and more often than not, it’s the former. We live in an age where anxiety reigns supreme, although, so doctor’s offices are crowded with people suffering from diseases better left at home. For all of the people complaining about the wait times in doctor’s offices, know that the people who are clogging up the works are either really really sick or they just think they are and the doctor has to spend unnecessary time convincing them that they’re not.

I’m sure there have been cases in which WebMD’s paranoia-inducing symptoms lists have saved people, but most medical professionals will argue that the website does a lot more harm than good. It isn’t helpful to have people in the world terrifying that they’re dying when they simply have a blister on their toe. We’re developing numerous neuroses based on a patch of dry skin. The trick to staying emotionally and physically healthy is to not stress too much. Therefore, it’s important that people stop abusing the internet healthcare sites and WebMD. It’s counterproductive to a healthy lifestyle, so if you have a vicious case of hives, it’s best to avoid the internet unless it doesn’t go away.