Health Guidelines

This information is intended to serve as a model for Internet users in order to help them to obtain reliable, independent and comparable information on health issues and treatment via the internet. It is a model guide, designed to be translated into national languages and modified as the local situation may require. 

1. Quality of Information: If used properly, the Internet allows quick and easy access to health information. It provides useful information on such topics as diseases, conditions, therapies, medical products, and health and medical organizations and institutions. However, the quality of health and medical product information on the Internet varies, and it is often difficult for the Internet user to identify the true source of the information and to determine whether it is reliable, complete and up to date. Listed below are few points that the user should consider for evaluating the quality of information provided:

   • Is there clear indication of the name and contact address of the web site owner?

   • Is there clear indication of person or group of persons with appropriate qualifications/experience (incl. Names or positions/ qualifications/experience).

   • Is the site meant for consumers, health professionals, or some other audience? If a resource is intended for a particular audience, then this should be made clear as early as possible in introductory material and information should be presented appropriately for the intended audience.

   • When was the information displayed last updated?

   • A full copyright statement (for example, as on print publications) or a short copyright statement with a link to the full statement. Generally the site copyright notice should allow for the printing and downloading of resources for personal use.

2. Source of Information: Internet users should verify the following:

   • Since a user may reach the site directly without the context of navigating from the sites home page, hence, each HTML page, PDF document or other resource must have individual explicit details about the source.

   • References to source material used in the preparation of the resources should be included.

   • A written policy on links to other sites. This may include a disclaimer that links to external sites should not be taken as implying support of an external organization or endorsement of information on other sites. It may also make special provision for links to commercial/private sector sites where health advice may be combined with advertising.

   • A full disclaimer notice. It is recommended that a disclaimer notice be placed on any resource offering health advice. It is preferred that this be a simple notice that the resource is of an educational nature rather than a long-winded legalistic disclaimer of all liability.

   Health authorities and organizations in each country can provide a list of sites with links to reliable sources of health and medical information. Additionally, several private organizations are actively searching for ways to ensure the quality of information on the Internet. Internet users may also be interested in following or participating in these discussions and reading what others have to say on this topic. Below are two examples of organizations that are conducting such activities. National authorities should identify and list additional organizations and reliable web sites known to them.

   • Health on the Net Foundation http://www.hon.ch/Internet 

   • Intermountain Healthcare - http://intermountainhealthcare.org/xp/public/

3. Recognition of Qualified Practitioners: Following points should be considered in this regard:

   • Is there a clear indication of the qualification of the practitioner with level of training/experience? The association to which they belong should be able to provide this type of information.

   • Since many countries do not have regulations/minimum qualification for Homoeopathy/complementary therapy check if a practitioner is a member of a professional association s/he will have undergone a minimum standard of training, with these standards differing greatly between associations, from around three years to Six years.

   • Check whether health authorities of your respective country or the country from which the qualification was obtained recognize the qualification. 

   • Be wary of practitioners who make guarantees about curing long-standing health problems or who suggest treatments that seem extreme or overly expensive.

   • Know the outcomes they expect from the treatment and ask the practitioner to estimate what length of treatment time is necessary before these outcomes are realized.

   • Ask the complimentary practitioner whether he is willing to work with your medical practitioner (if this is required).

4. Case Studies: For the sites providing case studies of successfully treated diseases (including rare and incurable ones) all the points listed in 1 & 2 and 3 above plus the following should be considered to evaluate the authenticity of the material provided:

   • Is there is clear description of the disease being cured? 

   • Is the details given regarding the treatment of the disease supported by clinical evidence? This however, doesn't means simply showing the photographs of before and after the treatment plan. The claims should be supported by clinical reports taken at regular intervals, medications used and the duration of treatment. The clinical reports are the only means of authenticating the claims as it will show clearly the presence of disease and during the course of treatment they will indicate the progress towards cure with the medications being used. On the other hands this will also enable other practitioners to validate the claims.

   • There is no secret formula or magic medicine/s for a disease. Every medical science includes remedies for curing the disease and one only uses them to treat the patient. However, one may have developed his/her own formulations and might not want to disclose it, but the ingredients used should be indicated( in accordance with the FDA regulations).

5. Self Treatment: Consult your doctor or other health care professional before you decide to treat yourself. This is important for several reasons:

   • Not all diseases and symptoms need medical treatment. You may be taking medicines or using medical products unnecessarily and exposing yourself to an unnecessary risk.

   • Many medications or other medical products may cause harm if they are used improperly. It is important to be under the care of a health care professional when using such products.

   • Appropriate medication or appropriate medical treatment for your disease or symptoms is important to your health. Not every medication is appropriate for everyone. For example, some individuals may be allergic to certain medications. A health care professional can help you to determine the best medicine or treatment for your disease or condition.

   • A health care professional can provide guidance on how best to take your medication safely. . For example, other products, such as other medications, alcohol or certain foods, may influence the effectiveness of some medications. Mixing your medication with these other products could strengthen or weaken the effect of the medication or cause an adverse reaction. This could be dangerous to your health or, at the least, interfere with your timely recovery.

   • Patients with particular characteristics, such as pregnant or breast-feeding women, the elderly and children, have special concerns, needs and considerations when taking medication or using medical products. In particular, a number of medications are specifically known to cause harm to unborn children, so that pregnant women should be sure to consult a health care professional before self-treatment.

   • Any time you take medication or use a medical product it is important to inform your health care professional of any side-effects you may experience when using the product. By going through your health care professional for treatment, you can make sure that he or she will be better prepared to advise you or change the treatment if you do have an adverse reaction to a product. By ordering medical products through the Internet you may deprive yourself of the opportunity for personal, professional care and advice from your doctor, pharmacist or other health care professional.

6. Potential Problems with Complementary Medicines: Complementary medicine includes therapies such as herbal medicine, traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture, homeopathy, naturopathy, reflexology, aromatherapy, meditation and relaxation therapies as well as herbal, vitamin and mineral products.

   • A common problem associated with the use of complementary medicine is that many people believe that anything ‘natural’ is 100% safe and so fail to take the same precautions they would with orthodox medicine. This more relaxed attitude towards complementary medicine can cause people to ignore adverse reactions that they would acknowledge if they were taking orthodox medicine. They may also not follow directions for use, for instance taking higher dosages of a preparation in the belief that ‘more is better’, something most people would never do with orthodox medicine.

   • Related to these relaxed attitudes is a tendency for people to treat themselves rather than consult a complementary health practitioner. This is particularly prevalent with herbal medicines and vitamin and mineral preparations as these products are readily available from supermarkets, health food stores and chemists. If customers do ask for assistance to select appropriate products the staff available may not have adequate training to provide accurate information and may not take into consideration the person’s individual circumstances.

   • People choose not to tell their medical practitioner they are using complementary medicine because they are embarrassed, do not think that s/he will understand or simply because they are not aware that the information is relevant. However, failing to inform a medical practitioner of the use of complementary medicine can have serious health implications. The use of complementary medicine in conjunction with orthodox medicine can result in interactions between the two forms of treatment in many cases.

7. Advertising & Funding:

   • Is it clear which organization (s) contribute funding, services, or other support to the web site?

   • If advertising or sponsorship is a source of funding, is this clearly stated?

8. Confidentiality of Information: 

   • Check whether the medical/health Web site clearly states issues concerning with the confidentiality of data relating to individual patients and visitors including their identity in the Privacy policy section or the information collecting form.

   • If the site requires you to pay a consultation fees by accepting credit cards then you should verify that whether the page accepting the credit card number is secured by checking the URL, which should begin with https:// rather than http://

   • If the payment accepting system is provided by third party the you must verify whether the site is providing a secure payment gateway solution or not.

   • The Web site owners should undertake to honor or exceed the legal requirements of medical/health information privacy that apply in the country and state where the Web site and mirror sites are located.

9. Spotting Quackery: Suffering from myriad diseases, ailments and afflictions, the public has for years fallen victim of the worthless and often dangerous "miraculous" cures offered by practitioners of quackery. Health quacks have cheated people of their money and even their lives by claiming medical skills they do not have.

   When any of us suffer illnesses we seek relief, and medical science is able to provide relief for almost every problems. But the process is low and when no help seems to be in sight, certain individuals may be blinded by desperation and become the easy prey of unscrupulous opportunists.

   The quack often uses a special or "secret" formula or machine etc he claims can cure disease. He may promise an instant and easy way to health and cure. Quacks often advertise with testimonials showing beneficial results; sometimes the person mentioned have actually died from what they were to have been cured of. Such charlatans refute scientifically accepted modes of diagnosis or treatment and many times claim that reputable medical groups are persecuting them.

   Quackery exists to make money, not to provide help to mankind. It can continue only if people allow it. Quackery cannot persists if public will not support it.

References:

1. HONcode Principles

2. Publishing standards for HealthInsite, Australia

3. Federation of State Medical Boards of the United States, Inc