When we think about Google and health, we usually think about patients searching online for health information. But you may be surprised that some doctors Google you.
An Australian survey of how doctors use social media found about 16% (about one in six) had searched for online information about a patient, with roughly similar results from studies in the US and Canada.
This raises several ethical concerns. For instance, what if your doctor’s search through your Facebook, blog or Twitter feeds revealed aspects about your lifestyle, like drug or alcohol use, you didn’t tell your doctor directly? What if that information influenced your access to surgery?
Why doctors Google patients
Some doctors say they Google their patients to gather more information about them or to discover the “truth”. Armed with that information, they say they can better care for their patients and improve their health.
For instance, a doctor may see a patient with depression’s online account of wanting to end his life as an opportunity to take action and prevent a bad outcome. Or a doctor may find out about adolescent high-risk behaviour they are not likely to talk about, like drug abuse or risky sexual behaviour, and see that as an opportunity to protect them from harm.
Alternatively, some doctors Google their patients out of curiosity, voyeurism or simply habit.
This raises the issue of when a legitimate professional concern tips over into behaviour that’s unnecessary and “creepy”.
To Google or not is an issue doctors admit to grappling with. In an Australian survey, when doctors were asked if it was appropriate for doctors to look up publicly available information about a patient, almost 43% said no and around 40% were unsure.
Breaching trust
When a doctor searches online for information about a patient without consent, their role changes from someone who works with the patient to someone who observes and spies on them. From a patient’s viewpoint, this is likely to destroy trust between the two, as it shows a lack of respect.
Patients can also be directly harmed when doctors act on information they find online. If a doctor sees an online photo of a patient waiting for a liver transplant drinking alcohol when they shouldn’t be, patients risk missing out on receiving a new liver.
Then there’s the issue of whether the information is recent or relevant. In the case of the liver transplant dilemma, we might not know when the photo of the liver transplant patient was taken; it is not proof the patient is drinking now.
Doctors, like the rest of us, also cannot be sure online information is accurate. For instance, more than 50% of adolescents admit posting false information on social media.