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Freedom or Folly? Canadians and the Consumption of Online Health Information

The concept of e-health has come to assume a key place within a larger Canadian governmental discourse that lauds the benefits of supplying Internet-based services to as wide an audience as possible. In order to fulfil its vision of a connected public accessing services cheaply and easily through electronic media, the federal government has assumed that the potential exists for all Canadians to use the Internet and has done its best to achieve this result through programmes aimed at ameliorating accessibility issues. There is particular enthusiasm over the possibility of moving some health services online, thus reducing costs incurred through personal patient-practitioner meetings while ostensibly creating more informed, proactive and healthy Canadians. This paper discusses whether or not the enthusiasm of the government, and of individual users, regarding e-health practices is merited, focussing particularly on the consumption of online health information by patients. Numerous consequences and conflicts can accompany such practices, but this paper specifically addresses the negative aspects of promoting informed health choices through a medium inaccessible to all members of Canadian society, such as the aged, the poor, rural dwellers and some ethnic minorities. The paper also assesses the potential risks of acting upon incorrect information provided online and addresses the possibility that health professionals' workloads will increase rather than decrease. However, as this paper also notes, e-health does contain potential for improving the delivery of medical services in Canada if contained within clearly defined parameters, and if alternatives still exist for those who cannot or will not benefit from such technology.