Two parents of a preterm baby found the answer for their son’s anemia on Google Mobile before their doctor did…

“Armed with only a cell phone - and a very low battery - I was able to Google [hemoglobin “premature infant”] and found a medical journal article claiming that it’s perfectly normal for preemies to have their hemoglobin levels drop to 7 between the first and third months of life.”

The doctors were planning a blood transfusion. The parents “showed the mobile screen to the neonatalogists, who went off to research the issue for a couple of hours. They returned and admitted that our son was indeed fine - no treatment was necessary.”

This is a remarkable

story. The advice remains the same though - always consult your doctor before making medical decisions. Grahamazon gives one more reason why: the family falsely believed that a blood transfusion would be ““extremely dangerous”” but actually the transfusions are generally very safe.

Update 3/28/2007:

Adam Bosworth, Vice President of Engineering at Google Inc. covers similar topics in: How do you know you’re getting the best care possible?

Reference:
We get letters (2) - Google Blog
Who’s your patient’s best friend? Google!
Dear Google, Googlediagnosing - Grahamazon.com
Evaluating Web Pages: Techniques to Apply & Questions to Ask - UC Berkeley
Picture source: Google Blogoscoped by Philipp Lenssen, used with permission

Original post by Clinical Cases