With online information at their fingertips, patients increasingly present with self-diagnoses — a trend that both empowers and complicates care. Many clinicians react with dismissal, seeing such behaviour as a challenge to their expertise. But is it ethical to disregard patients who Google their symptoms? Through a case vignette and analysis grounded in autonomy, epistemic justice, and beneficence, we argue that dismissal reflects a deeper failure of ethical engagement. Medical education must evolve to equip future doctors with humility and communication skills to guide, not guard, patients in an information-saturated world.
Copyright and license ©Indian Journal of Medical Ethics 2025: Open Access and Distributed under the Creative Commons license ( CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which permits only non-commercial and non-modified sharing in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
Interesting and relevant article. One reason why people resort to online search is when the concern pertain to their private parts. Many find it embarrassing to discuss it with the doctor. Once a patient who had Zoon balanitis was distressed thinking he got penile cancer. It was difficult for the doctor to reassure him.