“Dr. Google” and his predecessors
Abstract
Background Contemporary medicine has expressed concern about lay incursions into the diagnostic process buttressed by commonly available medical information on line. Even while the world wide web is a new structure, there is a long historical precedent for this concern. With the emergence of scientific medicine in the late 19th century came a strong belief in the role of diagnosis, not only to explain disease symptoms but also to differentiate the physician from a range of other unreliable practitioners. Along with this focus on diagnosis came also a concern expressed by doctors about patients' inclination to self-diagnose, or to propose candidate diagnoses for the problems that ailed them. Methods This paper uses Zerubavel's social patterning method. Using material written by doctors from the late 19th until the mid-20th century, I explore comments about, and attitudes towards, self-diagnosis. Results Three areas of concern about self-diagnosis are expressed by doctors. First, self-diagnosis produces anxiety in the patient. Second, it interferes with doctor-patient relationship. Finally self-diagnosis is commonly linked to commercial interests. Conclusions Contemporary concerns about self-diagnosis are part of an ongoing social pattern, which simultaneously promotes diagnosis as means for explaining disease but also protests when the diagnostic explanations originate with the patient.
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- Authors
- Jutel, A.
- Affiliations
- Victoria University of Wellington (NZ)
- Corresponding author
- Jutel, Annemarie
- ORCID
- Jutel, Annemarie
- Venue
- Diagnosis
- Publisher
- Walter de Gruyter GmbH
- Published
- 2017-04-13
- Volume
- 4
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 87-91
- ISSN
- 2194-8011 (ISSN-L)
- 2194-802X
- OpenAlex
- W2606543049
- Cited by
- 45
- References
- 16
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 1
- FWCI
- 16.60
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Diagnosis (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Economic and Social Research Council (ES/J022497/1)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History and Philosophy of Science › History of Science and Medicine
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Medicine, History, and Philosophy
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Family Practice › Clinical Reasoning and Diagnostic Skills
- Keywords
- self-diagnosis, history of diagnosis, physician-patient relationship, patient anxiety, scientific medicine, social patterning
- MeSH terms
- History of Medicine, Humans, Physician-Patient Relations, Sociology, Medical, Internet, History, 19th Century, History, 20th Century, Consumer Health Information, Search Engine, Diagnostic Self Evaluation
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