Two-thirds of us relying on 'Dr Google' to diagnose illness

A study from Harvard in 2021 found that "using the internet to search for health information was associated with small increases in diagnostic accuracy", and that patient anxiety did not increase on the whole. File photo

Doctor Google is working harder than ever doing house calls as around two-thirds of Irish people have searched online in recent months for information on health, injuries, and disease.

In recent years, it has become the bane of medically-trained professionals all over the world when neurotic patients self-diagnose after looking up symptoms online, with doctors and nurses having to assuage worries about serious conditions.