Do I Have Ebola? Google Testing Live-Video Medical Advice
Probably works better than Healthcare.gov.
Just in time for flu season, Google is experimenting with a feature that provides live video chat advice to searchers looking for information on some medical conditions.
We've all probably convinced ourselves at least once through frantic online searching, that we — or our children — have some sort of undiagnosed chronic or catastrophic disease. (Ebola, we're looking at you.) With the video chat option, Google may be able to alleviate some of those concerns by providing a real, live doctor to walk down that panic level at those times when you're trying to figure out whether it's worth scheduling a doctor's appointment or not.
Google confirmed that it's running the program in a limited trial. "When you're searching for basic health information — from conditions like insomnia or food poisoning — our goal is provide you with the most helpful information available," said a Google spokeswoman in a statement. "We're trying this new feature to see if it's useful to people."