Many patients today visit the Internet before they visit a doctor's office. Symptom finders and information about different health issues can be helpful for both doctors and patients because it can let patients know when, for instance, a health issue is minor or is something that cannot be treated with antibiotics, thus saving them and the doctor time.

But there can also be difficulties when a symptom search is inconclusive or when different sources of information don't agree.

For this project, pretend you have a patient with the following set of symptoms:

fatigue
difficulty losing weight
constipation
dry skin
sensitivity to cold
hoarseness
Use at least three medical information websites such as WebMD and Mayo Clinic to research these symptoms and determine what kind of self-diagnosis the patient might discover.

Write a paper of at least 350 words about your findings, including answers to the following questions:

What did you find at each site?
Is the information on these symptoms consistent across the different telemedicine providers, or are there many different possibilities?
What is a potential diagnosis?
What does that tell you about the use of telemedicine by patients before seeing a doctor?
Do you consider one source to be more or less authoritative than the others? Why?
Do you think the information accessed online is more or less reliable than that provided by a doctor? Why?
If incorrect information found online resulted in the injury or death of a patient, who do you think should be held responsible?
Be sure to cite all pages you visit.