Tools do exist to make quality control easier. With the help of a well-credentialed advisory board, she and her staff evaluate the accuracy, balance, and timeliness of hundreds of nutrition sites. Even patients who use tools like the Nutrition Navigator may get a cool reception when they arrive at the doctor's office with a pile of printouts. Today, that attitude hasn't changed completely. Though some doctors accept and even embrace the notion of the well-informed patient, others hold on to the old way of thinking, and would rather control the kind of information that gets into their patients' hands.
Some doctors still say that today.
Don Accetta, the Taunton allergist, remembers how strange it felt a few years ago when the FDA began allowing drug companies to advertise directly to consumers rather than just using medical journals to pitch drugs to doctors. If not, he explains why. He takes the same approach with patients who do research on the Internet. More people are surfing the Net. They come armed with information.