Self-Diagnosis: ‘Dr. Google’ Is Inaccurate
While the internet can be a good starting point, you can't rely on 'Dr. Google' for an accurate medical diagnosis.
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Google only provides an accurate medical diagnosis 36% of the time, according to research published in the Medical Journal of Australia. Mobile- and web-based symptom checkers are algorithm-based programs that provide potential diagnoses and triage advice, and even though they receive an estimated 70,000 health-related searches every minute, the results they provide are highly inaccurate.
Lead study author Michella Hill warns that a general web search will present a diagnosis without taking your full medical history into account and that most symptom trackers are not regulated by a governing body.
If your doctor has already confirmed you have a medical issue, a web search may help you glean further information about your condition, just take your findings with a grain of salt because remember — Doc Google never went to medical school.