<i>When you're in hospital, would you say the same thing to your doctor?</i><p>I might. About 200,000 people a year die in the US from preventable medical errors[0]. I've had a number of experiences[1] where I found important medical information that doctors missed. Part of the reason is that when I or a close friend is ill, I put a lot more time and effort in to researching that specific case than a doctor would.<p>[0] <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_malpractice#Statistics" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_malpractice#Statistics</a><p>[1] I know anecdotes don't serve as evidence for a trend