Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse of Central Texas

KXAN-TV (NBC) Channel 36, Chris Willis - co-anchor
March 25, 2008

After researching a medical condition on the Internet, have you ever walked away more afraid than informed? As the World Wide Web expands, your chance of running into a fake medical Web site is higher than ever. KXAN's Ellen McNamara joins us with more from the Capitol in a Live Well report.

Ellen.

ELLEN McNAMARA reporting:

Hi there, Chris. Well, it turns out that as you surf the Web, some of the medical information that you either encounter or really are hoping to seek is posted by a medical professional at all. It's actually posted by an attorney or law firm.

Now, 65 percent of the search results done for drugs like Avandia and Crestor are posted by law firms and legal marketing firms, hoping that eventually you'll become a client and that has some concerned, especially the Texas attorney general, Greg Abbott. He alerted consumers about checking their sources of online health information and members of Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse are concerned as well.

The nonprofit group performed a study of the World Wide Web and found that although 8 million people on average search for medical information on a daily basis, only about three-fourths check their sources.

Dr. EVELYN TOBIAS MERRILL (Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse):

But the best source for information if a patient has a question about their healthcare is their doctor; it's their healthcare provider.

McNAMARA: On the flipside though, I asked the watchdog group if their information is giving all lawyers a bad name.

Mr. BILL SUMMERS (Rio Grande Citizens Against Law Abuse):

It's just a few of them that ruin the whole profession, just like--sorry, Doctor--but there's just like a few doctors that give a bad name to the health profession.

McNAMARA: So with the slanted Web sites out on the Web, what are some good tools, good Web sites to go for some credible information? Well, the doctor told me the American Cancer Society, the CDC, the FDA's Web sites are all good sources.

I also specifically asked her, though, about WebMD because it is a site that so many common people just log on, get their information from. She said she really didn't have any problems with WebMD, it's a good starting point. But then after you go to the computer and find that starting point, find that basic information, you definitely need to check with your doctor.

Live from the Capitol, Ellen McNamara, KXAN AUSTIN NEWS.