PHOENIX (CBS5) –We know many of you have trouble navigating the healthcare system and often skip trips to the doctor to save money. Now, a new partnership with Google and Mayo Clinic could help your health and your wallet.
“My husband actually restricted me from Googling when I was pregnant after Owen’s diagnosis,” said Vanessa Blutrich, whose son was born with a congenital heart defect. She keeps an especially close eye on his health.
Last week when she noticed his cheeks were hot and red, she took to the web.
“I Googled warm hot red cheeks and up popped Fifth disease,” Blutrich said. She said she often turns to the Internet for answers to avoid rising healthcare costs. She’s not alone; 1 in 20 Google searches is health-related.
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“That’s always in the back of our minds. Do we have to pay a co-pay just for them to say he’s fine?” Blutrich said.
A new partnership with Google and the Mayo Clinic is trying to make sense of health searches online, with doctors writing the definitions you see online for different conditions and diseases, along with symptoms, treatments, how serious they are, and how contagious.
“They sometimes not only tell you what they think they have, they tell you what you should do for them, they just need a stamping of their diagnosis,” said Dr. Al Borhan, a urological surgeon. He said this new tool is a good first step but doesn’t replace seeing your doctor.
“Is there a way they walk in, do they have labored breathing, do they look like they’re retaining fluid?” Borhan said. “Your computer can’t tell you those things and it’s as part of a diagnosis as anything else.”
Date: February 11, 2015