Can you Trust Medical Information Online?

Would you ask a fellow shopper at the grocery store why you have pain when you breathe? Would you ask your car mechanic what kind of surgery you should have to fix a heart condition? Of course not! Although many of us seek advice from family, friends, colleagues and sometimes even strangers, it’s not necessarily a great idea for medical advice. Many of us search online for medical information, but how can you find trustworthy sources for medical information online?

Finding reputable websites for health-related information can be difficult. And we are not just searching websites, we increasingly look to social media sites for information as well. But and this is important, there is no governing body making sure that information on websites and social media sites is accurate.

You don’t need a medical or scientific degree to create a website, post on Facebook, or post a video on YouTube. This begs the question: what are trustworthy sources for medical information on the internet?

Searching online for medical information is popular.

As we all know, the internet is convenient, always available, and cost-effective. And it’s changed the way we interact with our doctors. People search online for information about medical conditions and treatments more frequently than they communicate with their doctors about their health care.

A 2021 survey by the AHIMA Foundation found that 80% of Americans are likely to research their doctors’ recommendations online after a medical appointment to help them better understand what their doctors recommended.

Additionally, according to the 2018 MARS Consumer Health study, 80% of all US adults look on the internet for information related to health and wellness.

The pros of online medical research: Information and support.

Online research can help identify treatment options.

Doctors have a hard job. There are thousands and thousands of medications for doctors to keep track of. And, there are hundreds of clinical trials and new treatments for doctors to learn about. Therefore, when patients research treatment options, they may find possible solutions that their doctors are unaware of.

But there’s a lot of misinformation available on the internet, so proceed with caution.

Online support groups can be a lifeline.

Online support groups connect patients and family caregivers who are dealing with similar health conditions. Not only can these groups provide much needed emotional support, users exchange medical and lifestyle information. But, it’s important to realize that participants are usually not medical professionals.

The cons of online medical research: The fake medical news epidemic.

There is a lot of discussion these days about fake news, with frequent accusations against mainstream, trustworthy news sources like NBC, CNN and The New York Times. These allegations dangerously erode the public’s trust in mainstream news.

However, that is not the kind of fake news I am writing about here. Unfortunately, some websites, posts and videos are intentionally filled with misinformation in order to deceive the public and/or sell bogus cures.

Watchdog groups found hundreds of websites filled with fake medical news, with countless more flying under the radar. This is troubling, to say the least.

The misinformation in these sites ranges from ridiculous to subtle misreporting and overhyping of mainstream news stories. These sites often use false information to drive the sale of expensive, unproven treatments and/or to increase ad revenue.

Despite the vast amount of fake medical information on the internet, many people trust what they read. For instance, 86% of respondents to the 2021 AHIMA Foundation survey felt confident that online health information is credible

If you’re confident in your ability to detect fake medical information, don’t be so sure. Sometimes the creators falsely cite reputable hospitals or government agencies, with fabricated quotes, to convince you that their information is reliable. And once the information is posted, it is often be widely shared on social media.

One example of potentially dangerous fake news.

The website YourNewsWire posted the article “CDC Doctor: ‘Disastrous’ Flu Shot Is Causing Deadly Flu Outbreak.” In the article, an anonymous doctor at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned that nearly everyone dying of the flu had one thing in common: They had gotten flu shots. “This scares the crap out of me,” says the doctor in the article.

The story also cited Big Pharma as a co-conspirator for failing to tell the public about toxic chemicals in the vaccine. And it was published in the middle of a terrible flu season.

But it was all fake – the entire story, including the quotes, was made up. But the piece went viral. Not only did it appear on alternative-health and conspiracy-theory websites, it was widely shared on Facebook, with 500,000 engagements in one month. There were thousands of online comments, including some claiming incidents of paralysis or death from flu shots.

Although several fact-checking websites reported issues about the article, it didn’t slow the momentum.

How big a problem is medical misinformation online?

Very big! In 2019, NewsGuard evaluated health claims in websites and found that 11% provided misinformation about health. And these are popular sites, accounting for over 49 million engagements (shares, likes, comments, etc.) on social media in a 90 day period, which is more than major news websites such as NPR, Business Insider, or Forbes.

NewsGuard, co-founded in 2018, rates websites based on nine basic journalistic criteria. Each site receives a green rating (generally reliable) or a red rating (generally not reliable).

What’s the government doing about medical misinformation online?

The US surgeon general issues a strong advisory about misinformation.

On July 15, 2021, US surgeon general, Dr. Vivek Murthy, issued a formal advisory (his first) alerting Americans to the serious public health threat caused by health misinformation.  The advisory states that during the COVID-19 pandemic, many people have been exposed to health misinformation — information that is false, inaccurate, or misleading according to the best available evidence at the time.

During a news briefing on the advisory, Dr. Murthy made it clear he was targeting tech and social media companies, saying they have a singular responsibility to be more aggressive in fighting misinformation. Interestingly, he specifically mentioned Facebook.

Solving the misinformation problem is difficult.

This is a very tough nut to crack.

But the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) try to stop companies illegally selling products with fraudulent claims, including purported cancer treatments and weight-loss supplements.

However, the agencies cannot keep up with the volume of companies making false claims. And some companies get around regulatory actions by changing their company names and reintroducing their products under new names on new websites.

Good news! The FDA launched a website to track fraudulent healthcare claims. Visit the site to learn about FDA warnings for a wide variety of healthcare claims.

How can you tell if medical news is fake?

First and foremost, remember what your parents always told you – if something seems too good to be true, it probably is. Fortunately, there are a few websites you can use to evaluate potentially fraudulent claims, including Quackwatch and Snopes. You can also install the plug-in from NewsGuard.

Here are the 10 most visited sites containing health misinformation, as identified by News Guard:

You can help! If you see something a site or post that is making false or exorbitant claims, report it! You can file a complaint with the FTC or the FDA.

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