For one, I could certainly do with a little more communication from the docs - after all, you certainly don't need six years of medical school to tell me that I've got flu, and that all I need is a little more rest. Doctors sometimes fail to see that patients don't need just drugs, they need to be informed too. We want answers, accountability, and at the end of the day, a greater say in our treatment. Maybe that's why more people are turning to the net for health information. At the end of last year, more than 22 million American adults reported going online to find health information - one of the Net's top uses.
Internet is a great equalizer, they say.
And how true. At a click of a button, you can read up about your illness, digest current research, have medical jargon explained, explore different treatment options, engage in chat room discussion, and even post your questions for a virtual doctor to answer. You bet - within half an hour, I found out more than what the busy doctors could possibly tell me. The personal touch, ironically left out in the real world of 5-minute consultations, manifests and multiplies on the Internet. In online support groups, for example, you can get instant emotional and practical support so lacking in the real world of endless patient queues and harried medical staff.