Recently, when I was diagnosed with an incurable
and terminal bone marrow disease, I was dismayed to hear
my doctor tell me that there were only three treatments
available, two of which were unavailable to me because
of my already frail condition. Furthermore, only 15% of
patients responded at all to the third treatment, which
would not cure but only impede the development of the disease.
My response was to verify this information by going to
the World Wide Web, and to my delight I found some 20 other
treatments (albeit experimental) that my doctor had not
mentioned. My experience typifies one of the significant
advantages to patients arising out of the development of
Internet medicine, and particularly of web sites devoted
to health issues: Information previously parceled out by
one's doctor is now easily available to anyone with
access to a computer.