Work

Dr Google v Dr Real: Is it unethical to dismiss patients who self-diagnose?

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: With online information at their fingertips, patients increasingly present with self-diagnoses - a trend that both empowers and complicates care. Many clinicians react with dismissal, seeing such behaviour as a challenge to their expertise. But is it ethical to disregard patients who Google their symptoms? Through a case vignette and analysis grounded in autonomy, epistemic justice, and beneficence, we argue that dismissal reflects a deeper failure of ethical engagement. Medical education must evolve to equip future doctors with humility and communication skills to guide, not guard, patients in an information-saturated world.

Source: Indian Journal of Medical Ethics

DOI: 10.20529/ijme.2025.079

Authors: Vangipuram Harshil Sai, Chiramana Haritha, Vangipuram Shankar

Institutions: All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Apollo Proton Cancer Centre

Language: English

Topic: Ethics and bioethics in healthcare

Subfield: Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health

Field: Medicine

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: diamond

OpenAlex ID: W4415524535