WHY IS MID A PROBLEM?
As shown in the graph above lots of people make use of the internet every day. People use it to search for medical information among other things, if this medical information is false (or at least not fully true) lots of people come into contact with this false information. This has both direct and indirect consequences for both the health of the population and society as a whole.
DIRECT PROBLEM
The confusion caused by medical information disorder can directly cause deaths because people don’t go to the doctor, even if a disease is easy to treat. Not undergoing a treatment when that is actually possible causes unnecessary deaths.
INDIRECT PROBLEMS
Public health officials
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Medical information disorder gives different information than public health officials. This can be confusing and makes the work of public health officials harder. Because public health officials can’t work effectively they have less time to actually improve public health.
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Increased infection rates
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Medical information disorder also indirectly causes deaths. Confusion about a disease, how it spreads, and what to do causes wrong reactions to infection. Because of this people unknowingly infect more people, who can get injured or die.
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Crisis management
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Medical information disorder hurts governments (and their institutions’) image, while critique on the government is necessary the confusion by medical information disorder undermines its authority. This can create a dangerous situation where the government can’t help in an emergency because no-one trusts them.
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Increased healthcare costs
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Because of increased infection rates and later admission into the hospital more people have to be treated, and the treatment is more intense. This demands time from doctors and eventually increases healthcare costs because of increased treatments.
CONCLUSION
Medical information disorder is a problem because it increases the impacts diseases have on society. Because of Medical information disorder, the government is less effective in fighting diseases and people act in undesirable ways making the disease more deadly and impactful.
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WANT TO KNOW MORE?
Find out more about what medical information disorder is by reading these interesting articles below:
Navar, A.M. JAMA cardiology (2019)