

When Doctors ‘Google’ Their Patients - dak1
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/01/06/when-doctors-google-their-patients-2/?_r=1&

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kanamekun
Wait, I thought doctors were supposed to break into their patients' houses
without permission in order to search for clues as to how they got sick!

This undermines everything I learned about medicine from the TV show, House.

~~~
atmosx
In his 8 or 101 seasons, did he ever diagnosed anything wrong?

~~~
Eiwatah4
Yes, the 2-4 diagnoses he came up with in the first 35 minutes were always
wrong. Only then did he get it always right.

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INIT_6
This is horrible. mugshots.com is a fake website. It creates fake profiles
based on queries it gets. So you enter in: First Name Last Name Drug. It will
put a fake picture most likely based on last name. Meaning Ramirez isn't going
to pull up a white dude. Gender is based on first name. drug or crime creates
the context. It then creates several pages based on this. Then it relies on
the person doing the search to apply bias. Throwing out information to make it
fit your preconceived notion.

This is extremely dangerous and unbecoming of a doctor. What if the lady
really had no idea. What if her son swapped out the sugar with cocaine in a
panic and she OD on it.

Bottom line don't trust everything you read on the internet.

~~~
aestra
What's your source for this claim? I've read a little about the mugshot
industry (yes, it is an industry) and how it works and I never read they were
posting fake arrests/mugshots.

[http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/06/business/mugged-by-a-
mug-s...](http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/06/business/mugged-by-a-mug-shot-
online.html)

This article and every one I have read has no mention about fake profiles,
just scraping real arrests.

>Meaning Ramirez isn't going to pull up a white dude.

I randomly searched for Ramirez and got a white dude

[http://mugshots.com/US-Counties/Texas/Comal-County-
TX/Bobby-...](http://mugshots.com/US-Counties/Texas/Comal-County-TX/Bobby-Ray-
Ramirez.65582816.html)

EDIT: I just tried to "create" several fake arrest records, and I was unable
to, with many tries. I used last names from real arrests I knew (and verified)
were in the database with first names that weren't.

~~~
INIT_6
Sorry, didn't check back to see if anyone replied to me until today. Source,
My self. Unfortunately I don't think I can recreate my proof.

Around July 2013 the company I work for was looking for a new front desk
person to handle payroll/AP/answer phones. Well the main boss was googling the
top 4 people. One popped up as a criminal like 4 or 5 links down on google. He
went around poking fun of her and her arrest recorded. At first I laughed. The
next day I was thinking how did he get this info. I asked him and he said a
simple google search.

I did the same search sure enough there she was. (mind you we have no idea how
she is spouse to look) He dismissed her based on this alone. What really
sucks. Something seemed off so I looked into. I was able to get the exact same
picture to show up on several names and several charges. Started playing
around with it and got pretty good at predicting the results. I know for 100%
fact it was dynamically creating pages. I got pretty bored fairly quick. So I
didn't note anything down as its not my main interest.

Why I think I can't recreate what I was seeing. It seems they have been
getting in a lot of trouble as of late.

General article talking about it: [http://www.project-
disco.org/competition/101113-mugshot-mess...](http://www.project-
disco.org/competition/101113-mugshot-mess-provides-a-reminder-you-dont-want-
search-neutrality/)

Why Google should change search Algorithm:
[http://searchengineland.com/opinion-why-google-should-
crack-...](http://searchengineland.com/opinion-why-google-should-crack-down-
harder-on-the-mugshot-extortion-racket-145570)

Google changes search algorithm: [http://www.seroundtable.com/google-mugshot-
algorithm-17526.h...](http://www.seroundtable.com/google-mugshot-
algorithm-17526.html)

Some articles talking about the ohio case:
[http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/06/business/mugged-by-a-
mug-s...](http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/06/business/mugged-by-a-mug-shot-
online.html?pagewanted=all)

Its a removal service but links to all the sites: I'm sure one of them is the
one I was talking about. If you want to spend time i'm sure you can reverse
some of the sites algorithms and find something similar to what I was talking
about. [http://www.internetreputation.com/information/delete-your-
mu...](http://www.internetreputation.com/information/delete-your-mugshot-from-
google/)

and 19hours ago they WON! YAY!:
[http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2014/01/07/Plaintiffs-win-
set...](http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2014/01/07/Plaintiffs-win-settlement-
over-online-mugshot-sites/UPI-85291389134529/)

I realize am just some random dude on the Internet so I understand you can't
just take my word for it, but there it is. Hopefully, its enough information
to make you think I am not some kind of lair ;)

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themodelplumber
If you have a web presence of your own and run analytics software, it's
probably easy to check if your doctor googled you. In fact, several times I've
met with people who told me "I saw your site on the web before!" when I
already know that they googled me last night and viewed three pages on my
website. It's tempting to follow up with, "how do you like your Android tablet
with 1920x1080 resolution running the Opera browser?"

One of my worst clients told me at our first meeting that he had viewed every
single page on every website I ran, and he had this habit of starting off
subsequent meetings by saying, "I reviewed every single page of the
development site," etc. when the logs showed in each case that he had viewed
at most three or four pages. It appeared that he was using every possible
tactic to absolutely dominate any discussion or potential negotiation. I
finally called his previous vendor and determined after a short discussion
that the guy was a big liar, and helped him find a new vendor shortly
thereafter.

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matz1
Yes I would like Dr to be able to easily extract as much information so they
can more accurately treat me. Most of time I'm just not good at describing
what's wrong with me.

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donretag
Doctors barely give you any time during an office visit, so I find it highly
doubtful that they will want to waste more time searching online for someone.

~~~
pavel_lishin
As long as we're throwing anecdotes around, my doctor always gives me plenty
of time; in fact, every once in awhile we just chat about personal things.

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nodata
Isn't this against some professional code they are bound by?

~~~
nmc
Not to my knowledge (this could vary greatly from one country to another).

They must not disclose private information concerning their patients, but this
is precisely because they sometimes need to know very personal stuff in order
to better treat and cure.

~~~
nodata
Doesn't disclosing it to a third party count?

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kej
Once again I am saved by having a ridiculously common name.

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geekowl
Should be illegal. Full stop. This "must know everything" nonsense is
ridiculous.

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aroch
Patients are, across the board, pretty rubbish at giving histories. They
overlook things because _they_ don't think it relevant or don't want to tell
their doctors for some reason (even though it _is_ relevant). This is
especially true of drug and alcohol abusers.

~~~
jonlucc
I'm not sure most of those types of things would show up in a cursory search.

~~~
nmc
You may be underestimating the stuff people post on facebook these days.

