New and Digital Media Article 7: Yes, I sometimes Google my patients. Is this surprising?

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/08/google-patients-gp-rapport-pitfalls

This article states that thanks to the rise of the internet and technology many GPs apparently google their patients to find out more about them. They believe that doctors and GPs are very sociable people and are a people persons so if someone claims to have some sort of fame then it attracts the doctors to finding out more about the person. Sometimes researching a person can also be quiet useful as some of their hobbies etc that they may not have the need to state may have some relation to their visit to the doctors. But they don't do this on a regular basis. They of course do use records that are kept by the NHS of people who have records since they were born and this helps build a better understanding and can be quiet revealing than google can be. Googling patients isn't always reliable though, sometimes when googling celebrities not all the information released is true.

I believe that when googling a patient who isn't famous then it's perfectly fine because the person has placed that information out to the public themselves. However the article does state that some people may not expect their doctor to google them and don't want their doctor to see certain things. Googling someone can help doctors gain a better understanding of a person and their medical issues and what they may be doing that is worsening it or something.