Short course

Navigating the Net wisely in a health crisis

Andrew Schorr,a specialist in health communications,is convinced that the Internet saved his life. Now,through a book he wrote with Mary Adam Thomas,The Web-Savvy Patient, he is trying to help others facing a medical crisis use the Internet to their advantage and avoid its potential pitfalls.

In 1996,at age 45,with two young children and hoping for a third,Schorr had a diagnosis of chronic lymphocytic leukemia,an incurable disease. Doctors in Seattle,near his home in Mercer Island,told him he needed immediate chemotherapy.

But before he took their advice,he went on the Web and found a community of patients with his disease. The name of a specialist in Houston,Dr Michael J Keating,appeared repeatedly.

Soon,he and his wife,Esther,were on a plane to Houston. Dr Keating told them that Schorr would be around for a long time and that they should have the third child they wanted. The doctor also said no treatment was needed until Schorrs condition began to progress,which it did four years later. For six months in 2000,Schorr was treated with a combination of chemotherapy for leukemia and an experimental medicine,a monoclonal antibody called rituximab Rituxan,which has kept him alive and well to this day. Their third child,Eitan,is now a 14-year-old high school football player. Many doctors warn patients that they have to be careful of health information on the Web, Schorr wrote in his book. That is true. But patient-to-patient connections online have helped me,and they can help you,too. So can online connections with medical experts and medical information. You just need a helping hand from a savvy guide to help you navigate the Web. It is just such a no-nonsense guide that he and Thomas have provided. In it,they discuss the kinds of useful information that can be gleaned online,at no cost,by anyone with a serious medical condition,and they describe the hallmarks of bogus advice.

Texting while driving may double a drivers reaction time

Texting or emailing while driving is more dangerous than previously thought,according to a new study of the behaviour. Essentially texting while driving doubles a drivers reaction time, Christine Yager,who led the study at Texas Aamp;M Universitys Texas Transportation Institute,told Reuters. That makes a driver less able to respond to sudden roadway dangers.

For the study,42 drivers between the ages of 16 and 54 drove on an 11-mile test track course while sending or receiving text messages,and drove it again while focusing completely on the road.

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Drivers were asked to stop when they saw a flashing yellow light,and their reaction times were recorded,Yager said.The typical time it took a driver who was not texting to respond to the flashing light was one to two seconds. But when the driver was texting,the reaction time extended to three to four seconds,and the texting motorist was 11 times more likely to miss the flashing light. Yager said the reaction time was the same whether the driver was typing a message or reading one.