Google reviews of alternative cancer clinics giving patients false hope, says study

More than 30% of the positive reviews claimed cancer had allegedly being cured, patients were in remission or life had been meaningfully extended. They did find negative reviews but these were heavily outnumbered by reviews claiming cures. File photo: Damien Meyer/AFP via Getty Images

Cancer patients are being given false hope and putting themselves in danger due to Google search and review results that allow alternative cancer clinics to draw people in, according to a review in the journal Nature.

The study says vulnerable patients are finding positive reviews for the clinics “compelling”. In reality, the reviews are “an ineffective indicator of treatment outcomes”, international health academics said.