As a cancer survivor, health writer and producer for the popular Ask Dr. Weil alternative medicine site, Steven Petrow knows first-hand both the advantages and dangers of online medical resources. When I researched medical libraries like the University of Pennsylvania site, I wound up with more information than I knew how to interpret. I've been a health writer for more than 10 years, and when I read a study, I have to read all the footnotes very carefully, and sometimes I still don't understand. So you can only assume your average consumer would be confused some of the time. Several sites, such as Reuters Health, offer information under two separate categories for consumers and professionals to help alleviate this problem.
Patients still have access to medical research, but can get it in layman's terms.
Delight because the Internet hosts a large number of high-quality medical resources and poses seemingly endless opportunities to inform, teach, and connect professionals and patients alike. Concern because the fulfillment of that promise remains discouragingly distant. Petrow agrees that the unregulated proliferation of health information sites on the Web makes it easier for consumers to be duped, especially by sites promoting alternative medicine. Some of us are hoping there will be some kind of oversight in terms of fraud on the Web, because right now there isn't. With print magazines, at least you have to have 'advertisement' written on the page if it's an ad.