 Freedom of Information Conference 2000
Health Information on the Internet: Curtain calls, Pitfalls and Pratfalls.
John H. Renner MD,
Chief Medical Officer, www.HealthScout.com
Medical commentator of Stars and Stinkers.
President of National Council for Reliable Health Information.
Abstract
The Internet has multiple scientific and medical purposes and a variety
of public perceptions. Like a good Broadway musical production some of
the Internet is so good it deserves several curtain calls. Other Internet
health productions are more like very bad horror movies with terrible
medical humor, misplaced anatomical parts, and very low scientific literacy.
There are numerous ethical pitfalls and legal pratfalls to the promoters
and publishers of health information and services on the Internet. FDA,
FTC, SEC, FBI, State Attorneys and others are concerned and are taking
action. I evaluate websites on a daily basis using five criteria and many
subcriteria. The evaluation criteria of content accuracy, lack of good
basic science and poor credibility of sources of information cause many
websites to be ranked as health information failures. Not recommended.
Or labeled Stinkers.
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