This piece, “Dr. Google" appeared on page 20 of the September 2025 issue of Chicago Life Magazine.
When it comes to your health, too much information may be just as harmful as too little. How can you put what you find online into perspective?
It can be viewed using this link: Chicago Life Magazine - Dr. Google
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Let's say you've had a headache that hasn't gone away for a week. Where's the first place you'll go to find out what to do about it? Your primary care clinician? A neurologist? A pharmacist? A chiropractor? Your mother? In 2024 a Google survey of 2000 Americans reported—for obvious reasons take this data with a grain of salt—1/3 of the sample always did online symptom searches before seeking out professional advice and 2/3 of people said they had successfully self-diagnosed an illness with the help of Google.
As a generalist physician, other doctors didn't refer to me much. Most of my patients (or their insurance plans) chose me themselves. On the other hand, over the course of my career I referred to virtually every type of medical and surgical specialist there is, to some of them lots of times.
If a patient sought information online about their problem before consulting me, I could sometimes sort of picture myself as on the receiving end of a referral from “Dr. Google,” who had taken a first crack at understanding their issue and educating the patient about it. That's fine with me, just so long as it's the good Dr. Google and not the incompetent or worse yet, the dangerous one. There is so much misinformation online about everything, plenty of it just dumb and some of it downright scary and dangerous. The stakes are especially high when it comes to health.
If you were to come to me with that headache, I'd do an appropriate history and physical examination to determine, first of all, if there could be something really bad going on, like a bleed or a tumor. If so, I would order a head CT or MRI. If the problem seemed urgent I would refer you directly to a neurologist or maybe a neurosurgeon.
If you went online before consulting me, it would be good if you viewed me as a specialist who knows more about headaches and certainly more about you than Dr. Google does. If you consulted the good Google, I'd be thrilled to learn it correctly assessed that your symptoms are pretty benign, recommended over-the-counter analgesics, and told you to see a flesh and blood health professional if not better in a few days. On the other hand, if what you read scared you so much that you came into my office demanding an MRI for a typical tension headache, the not-so-good Dr. G did both you and me a disservice. Even worse, if Google directed you to a website that suggested you can erase your headache by placing some combination of 14 different crystals on your forehead, when in fact your symptoms suggest a brain tumor, the bad Dr. G may have put your life at risk. (It took me just a few clicks to arrive at such crystal-touting sites.)
The big question is, of course, how do you know what information to trust and what not to? As a physician who cannot possibly digest the deluge of medical literature I'm faced with every day, I have the same dilemma. Here are some basic principles I apply in selecting medical information to guide my practice. They apply just as well to places Google sends you to.
- Look at the source. It's like buying a bottle of wine. I'm no connoisseur. So I go with labels that experts have judged to be good. The same holds when deciding what brands of medical information to consume. Choose websites geared to laypeople that are branded by recognized experts. Regarding headaches, sites maintained by the National Institutes of Health Neurological Disorders and Stroke Section, the American Headache Society, and Northwestern Medicine's Comprehensive Headache Center, for example, deliver clear, high quality information. If you need help, someone at the clinic or hospital where you receive care or even a public librarian can point you to reputable information sources.
- Be skeptical. Whatever you download, you must always keep in mind that no matter what the source, no information is 100% true, especially when it comes to applying general principles to infinitely varied human beings.
- Stay away from any site with something to sell. That may be hard to discern when, for example, an “informational” website about headaches is posted by a pharmaceutical company that subtly guides you toward their new, expensive migraine drug. You can be sure that the information on any webpage you've been directed to by a TV ad is biased. (Public service ads are an exception.)
- Continuously try to summarize what you're learning. Attempting to cram too many factoids into your brain will give you a headache.
It should be obvious that I am not one of those doctors who dreads patients who carry article printouts to their doctor visits (so long as they run under 20 pages). I think of myself as an expert partner who can help put into perspective what my patient has learned and decide next steps along with them.
Just as my neurologist consultant had better know more than I do about headaches, I darn well should know more about headaches than you do as a layperson. You, me, and Dr. Google, ought to listen to each other, but not uncritically. Likewise for the neurologist, pharmacist and chiropractor, and even for your mother.
Late-breaking news. Just as I was putting the finishing touches on this piece I came across an article in Wired Magazine titled, “Dr. ChatGPT Will See You Now.” Brace yourself!
