The Web Docs

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Like most Americans, Peggy Garves, 49, of Albuquerque, N.M., has trouble getting more than a few minutes of her doctor's attention. So, when her 76-year-old mother suffered a stroke last year, Garves consulted the Internet, surfing medical sites for information about treatment and rehabilitation.

Then, when Garves' husband developed mononucleosis, she was back on the Web. "Doctors have to see 100 patients a day and are too busy to talk to me," she says. "The Internet helps fill in the blanks."

Right, but you have to be careful what you download. Any fool--or charlatan--with a telephone, modem and computer can create a decent-looking website. Result: an epidemic of Internet snake oil, featuring discredited cancer "cures" like laetrile staging a comeback, $200 "second opinions" with more disclaimers than a sky-diving class, and incompetent "diagnoses" from self-styled "professors" and "academicians" at $50 or so a pop. What's next? An e-auction site for an appendectomy or laser eye surgery?

Just last week the Food and Drug Administration asked Congress for greater authority to regulate online pharmacies and punish sites that peddle medications without a prescription. State officials are also seeking help in shutting down rogue drug sites.

But don't expect the Wild West atmosphere to vanish anytime soon. In just a few hours of trolling the Web, staff members at the Federal Trade Commission found 1,200 sites that touted questionable cures for such serious ailments as heart disease and AIDS. The government agency notified all of them that they were violating truth-in-advertising laws, but fewer than 30% removed the offending claims. Stronger measures are in the works.

So what's an e-patient to do? For starters, don't turn to the Internet in an emergency. If you're experiencing chest pains or a sudden weakness on one side of your body, call an ambulance, not a health portal. Just as important, don't trust anyone who's willing to give you a Web diagnosis without first examining you. That's not only unethical but also usually illegal.

No site is perfect, but the best ones share some important qualities. They're up-front about who they are and what their mission or business plan is. Advertising, if any, and online shopping zones are clearly separated from editorial content. Both the original source of the information and the date it was posted or reviewed are marked. Online experts are identified by name, credentials and institution, and confidentiality is treated as more than a technicality. (You would be surprised how often data on your surfing habits are collected without your knowing it.)

Some of the most reliable sites are sponsored by federal health agencies. The first stop for would-be cyberpatients should be the Web pages of the National Institutes of Health. Be sure to bookmark its consumer-information page www.nih.gov/health) because you will come back to it time and again.