As of: March 12, 2024, 10:25 a.m
By: Romina Kunze
Comments
Press
Split
Classifying a colleague's diagnosis is sometimes a thankless task for doctors.
Especially when patients bring with them a preconceived opinion.
Kassel – If you feel unwell or are in pain, you should seek medical advice.
It is not uncommon to want a second opinion, especially if symptoms persist.
However, not every doctor's office seems to want to be the second point of contact: patients who already bring a diagnosis with them to the consultation are not welcome in a practice.
A notice that was uploaded to the social media platform Reddit provides information about this.
“We don’t give second opinions”: Doctor’s office turns away patients with a note
Many pieces of paper with unmistakable messages can now be found in everyday life.
Drivers in particular like to leave each other warm words on paper, usually to comment on each other's parking skills.
Supermarket customers also express their displeasure in this way from time to time, as do angry neighbors in apartment buildings.
Even the notice on a doctor's office doesn't allow for a second opinion - in the truest sense of the word.
Anyone who wants to have their self-diagnosis, which they have researched in advance on the Internet, approved by their doctor should turn around straight away.
It says: “Patients who have already received a diagnosis via Google are asked to seek a second opinion from Yahoo instead of us.”
From “colleague” Dr.
In practice, people don't seem to think much of Google;
or just as much as Dr.
Yahoo.
This refers to two of the three largest online search engines in Germany.
Consequently, the specialist staff would have referred to the provider Bing - the second most frequently used search engine in this country after Google.
“I would look for another doctor”: doctor’s office note meets with dissatisfaction
However, the notice is not well received by Reddit users.
“A sign like this would be more likely to convince me to look for another doctor,” says one user.
In his opinion, it “already smacks” of paternalism and arrogance.
My news
3000 years in the same place: The oldest family in the world comes from Lower Saxony
After 18 years: Railway miniature world has to disappear from the attic read
The largest German community with a double name is in Baden-Württemberg
Clocks from winter to summer time: When is the time change in March 2024?read
Up to 30 centimeters: Where it's supposed to snow a lot on the weekend read
1 hour ago
Secret legacy of the RAF terrorist: Burdock's hidden war weapons and gold - Investigator: read “very meticulously”.
Another person, who says he works in the medical field, also thinks little of the note.
“If you approach the matter reflectively, it can be a good start to inform yourself.
Maybe also to avoid unnecessary visits to the doctor,” she writes.
“I usually google it so I have a general idea of how urgent it is, especially with my dogs,” writes another person.
But doctors can still issue sick notes afterwards.
Doctor's office shoots a notice against Dr.
Google – That’s what’s behind it
It is not known which doctor's office the note is hanging in.
However, its content is not unusual among medical professionals.
In most cases, experts advise against researching symptoms on the Internet.
As Ökotest reports, this could significantly worsen the health situation instead of improving it.
Get a second opinion?
Not in this practice – at least not if symptoms were googled beforehand.
(Symbolic photo) © Imago/Reddit
According to Ökotest, citing a study from the University of Cologne, googling symptoms could increase the fear of being seriously ill.
True to the motto “if you look, you will find sooner or later,” the university researchers call the psychological phenomenon “cyber hypochrondria.”
However, simply not attending a doctor's appointment is not a good idea - the practices can charge high cancellation fees.
Doctor classifies: When does it make sense to google symptoms - and when not
When researching symptoms online, however, you will probably find answers sooner rather than later, which should be viewed critically, as Corinna Schaefer from the Medical Center for Quality in Medicine
tells
geo.de.
“If you tend to find all sorts of symptoms, it’s not good for you to let unfiltered search results bombard you,” says Schaefer.
Patients often lacked the necessary medical context.
“A single symptom can indicate a wide variety of illnesses.
The doctor knows which illness he needs to ask about,” explains the doctor.
“Some patients come to the practice with certain ideas about their supposed illness and the right treatment that the doctor finds difficult to talk them out of.”
But it's not fundamentally wrong to google it.
In cases of rare diseases it is sometimes even advisable.
However, patients should question their sources critically.
Here's what she advises:
Always ask yourself: Who runs the service and how is it financed?
Are advertising and technical content separate?
Is it being dramatized or trivialized?
Always get information from multiple sources.
Be suspicious if the sides contradict each other.
Question who and how qualified the author of the text is.
Check when the text is from.
Information can be out of date in just a few years.
Examples of trustworthy sites that meet the requirements of the German Evidence-Based Medicine Network include
patienten-information.de
from the German Medical Association and the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians or
gesundheits-information.de.