To provide general feedback about the Media Doctor website, please leave your comments below. If you wish to provide feedback relating to a specific article, please use the comments section located on that article's page.

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(03 May 2010) Andrew Gregory from Myself writes,

"I am an insulin dependant diabetic currently being treated by a local GP in Newcastle. I am originally from the UK and over the last 10 years since coming to Australia my medical condition has deteriorated, in part I am sure due to the diabetes itself, but also as a result of my body and mind being subjected to severe work related stress. No doubt diet has had a part to play in recent years as a contributing factor, but I think the point I am trying to make is that the disease of diabetes mellitus causess many complications, but also many complications in life can also assist the onset of this incideous disease. On the bright side I have in my book the best possible care one could have with the group of GP/Specialists/Nursing and anyone who either directly or indireclty helps me out. To all my fellow sufferers out there, do as the doc's say, take the meds, take the needles, and do your best, after all they (GP/Specialists/Nurses)are doing theirs. If any one wants to know more about my journey please ask.

Cheers
Andy"

Media Doctor response,

"Thanks for your comments"

(15 Apr 2010) BJ from Media writes,

"I work in the media, so before everyone brands me unintelligent or a "beat up artist" please hear me out I'm just looking for an opinion. Several Australian doctors have turned up on the site ratemds.com some with appalling reviews. There have even been reports of doctors posting dummy reviews on themselves (glowing of course!) and even doctors masquerading as disgruntled patients to slander a colleague. I am writing an article on whether patients and doctors trust these websites for accurate opinions. I know many patients do. Thanks"

Media Doctor response,

"We actually have a very high regard for the media BJ. But we are not familiar with the site you have mentioned. Perhaps others can shed some light on this comment."

(17 Mar 2010) Chris Maggos from Addex Pharmaceuticals writes,

"Hi - Great site! Please add an RSS feed. I don't want more emails but will occassionally check the feed... Keep up the good fight!"

(05 Feb 2010) David Finer from Centre of Medical Excellence , Stockholm County Council writes,

"As a medical journalist, public health researcher and ardent Media Doctor supporter, I have for some years been trying to get a Swedish MD off the ground. So far without success.
Having said that, I feel a strong need to discuss what I see as serious limitations of the rating instruments with considerable normative impact. MD's ratings are fast solidifying into The Norm of "good" or high quality medical journalism. Though arguably covering critical aspects of medical journalism and health information, the rating instruments do not seem to do justice to other societally important dimensions of mass media functionality, such as (the list is neither complete nor validated):
* Aesthetic, artistic, design-oriented (language, semiotics),
* Entertainment
* Op/Ed (agenda-setting, editorial, debate)
* Thematic, related to choices of topics, subject covered by media
* Impact and effects, i.a. dis/empowering the public, e.g in terms of degree of interactivity
* Investigative, muckraking (with the important exception of the excellent "disease-mongering" item, one of the strongest and most innovative items in the MD rating arsenal).
It is certainly harder to operationalize these dimensions than some of those included in the MD rating instruments, but nevertheless, we must try or risk falling seriously short of fairly assessing the performance of the media in terms of its multifarious roles in society. Were the roles of the media "merely" to provide accurate, balanced, independent health-related information (if only they got close to doing those things consistently, I hear readers sigh), this would still do little credit to the weight of the very factor of media independence FROM MEDICINE, a factor hard to rate on the same scale as sickness and death but nevertheless one vital to any democratic society. With more input from laymen, journalists and health professionals, we might be able to arrive at more comprehensive and valid assessments."

Media Doctor response,

"Dear David

Thank you for this insightful comment. We at Media Doctor agree wholeheartedly with your observations and we are hopeful that in the future we may be able to expand the function of the web site to include many of the aspects of reporting you have raised.

We hope your work to establish a Swedish MDr is sucessful.

Best wishes

The Media Doctor Team"

(15 Apr 2009) michele kosky from health consumers council WA writes,

"This is a great service for consumers.We will be linking from our web site www.hconc.org.au and promoting in our newsletter Health Matters
Thanks for all the work
All the best
Michele Kosky
Executive Director"

Media Doctor response,

"Thanks Michele"

(13 Aug 2008) Beth writes,

"Hi Media doctor, Im in alot of pain at the moment and im 16 years old, because of the pain I chose not to go to school today. I havent had my period for about 9 weeks now, just about two days ago my eyes started hurting and whenever I look around at different objects in the room they hurt alot more. Im having lots of headaches, it feels like someones stabbing my head with a sharp knife, and my nose doesnt stop running.

please, please tell me whats wrong!

thank you,
Beth"

Media Doctor response,

"Dear Beth

Unfortunately Media Doctor does not provide medical advice. It is a website that was established to improve the accuracy of medical news reporting. We recommend a visit to your general practitioner for assistance."

(24 Jul 2008) Charmaine Leadbetter from non writes,

"Dear Sir/Madam

I have seen your current affair program. about lap band surgery for type 2 diabeties I have type 2. and my sugar levels is between 12&somtimes 16 I woild like to know how much is this kind of surgery.as we havent got that kind of money. and some people say you can die of lap band surgery. my eyes is effectet by the sugar levels. as at night the light look like stars to me instead of normal.and I,m also depending on insulin 4 times a day why dont the goverment cover the cost off these expensive surgery.

yours faithfully Charmaine L"
(this comment has been moderated)

Media Doctor response,

"Dear Charmain, thank you for your email. Unfortunately Media Dr cannot provide medical advice. We urge you to speak to a GP who will be able to tell you about lap band surgery and help you with your concerns.

regards

Media Dr"

(05 Apr 2007) morganusvitus writes,

"The site looks great ! Thanks for all your help ( past, present and future !)"

(08 Feb 2007) A reader from Monash University writes,

"I seek your permission to use the disease mongering YouTube sampler for teaching purposes.

I have responsibility for information literacy at Monash and I find that using material that illustrates the need for questioning information is a good way to open discussions with staff and students. I recommend Media Doctor to academic staff in the health sciences when we discuss information literacy education.

The BMJ 'Googling for a diagnosis' (accompanied by The Age's archaic illustration of doctor looking over nurse's shoulder) and the presentation 'How to Survive a Heart Attack when Alone" (linked from the Bangaldesh Development Gateway Foundation's Health section, amongst other places) are two examples of entertaining openers I have used to introduce the concept of information literacy. The YouTube video/BMJ article would also be a lovely opener for the clinical staff for whom I am preparing an introductory session.

Best wishes,

Vivienne Bernath"
(this comment has been moderated)

Media Doctor response,

"You are most welcome - and the same invitation is extended to anyone else who wishes to use the video for educational purposes.

David Henry"

(18 Oct 2006) Paul writes,

"Please rate www.asthmascore.com.au

Cheers"

Media Doctor response,

"Paul - thanks for writing. The Web site you refer to is not something that fits our rating criteria because it takes the form of health advice - we look at medical news stories. Apologies, but we cannot get into the business of giving health advice."

(26 Jun 2006) Trevor Andrews from retired writes,

"Before retiring, having had recent involvement as a Director and shareholder with a company that manufactured and marketed TENS machines, It was often frustrating that the TGA's stringent rules on advertising would dilute the features and benefits of the products being marketed.
Perhaps there is a role for the TGA in co-operating with you in your endeavour to limit the harm PR "spin" gives to medial"beakthorughs" with similar rules to their advertising rules being applied to press releases et al.
Keep up the good work.

Trevor Andrews"

(19 Jun 2006) Stan Goldstein from SGRB Solutions writes,

"I think this site really does have a lot of potential.

I was wondering though about the process of getting comments approved and placed on line. BMJ for instance ususally takes 1-2 days. I attempted to provide a couple of my own to see what the process was and whether there would be an interative and interactive discussion of the issues, but alas, nothing has appeared.

I think that without the feedback loop completed by incorporating relevant comments, the site becomes far less relevant.

Could you advise what are the processes for infcorporating the commenton your reviews which the site seems to be designed for?"

Media Doctor response,

"Stan - many thanks for writing. We do try to process comments quickly. Your comments related to specific articles covered by Media doctor and appear in the Forum section and in the comments section below the relevant articles. The Feedback section is where we put general comments about the site. Unfortunately it has been bombarded with spam recently and we are trying to find a way of fixing that."

(16 May 2006) Thompson from Mrks writes,

"Hello. Liked your site very much. Great design and content!"

(05 Apr 2006) Tony writes,

""I believe doctor holts treatment should be used. If only one% is cured, it is a life saved. life is so important. If I had known about doctor holt when both my mum and dad were told there was nothing more could be done, I am sure they would have been alive today.The government rule the country, but whe gives them the right to say who should live and who should die.""

(12 Mar 2006) Swallow from Napa Valley Allsoft, Inc. writes,

"Very interesting and beautiful site. It is a lot of helpful information. Thanks!"

(09 Mar 2006) Stake from Marketplace Design writes,

"A great site where one can enjoy the thought of a great mind long departed. Cheers for the good work!"

(09 Mar 2006) Wildmon from Wildmon fun Co writes,

"Greetings to all! Excuse for this message, but at you excellent design of a site! Very much it was pleasant to me, I shall come here very often!"

(09 Mar 2006) Broncos from Slots 777 Casino writes,

"What is the most important information I should know about Cymbalta?"

Media Doctor response,

"We generally don't give specific health advice; in addition this is a drug that is not available in Australia. We suggest that you search Google Scholar (http://scholar.google.com/) using the proper name for the drug - duloxetine"

(05 Mar 2006) Janelle Miles from AAP writes,

"Hi again. Just in relation to your comments on the two stories regarding a new treatment for blue bottle stings, they were actually two versions of the same AAP story. The on-line Australian story was the full AAP copy while the Sydney Morning Herald story was a cut down version, obviously to fit a space in the paper. That's why the quotes are the same. They weren't taken from a media release. They were part of an interview I did with the researcher. Cheers."

Media Doctor response,

"Thanks for clarifying this. We have amended the comment and the scores for this article."

(04 Mar 2006) Dr G Coombes from Urologist writes,

"Congratulations on this site. So many patients arrive with clippings of poorly reported "breakthroughs" , it is certainly time for this fightback to critically assess the media's role. Tragically, entrepreneurial medical colleagues are really behind the reporters' stories, pushing their own barrow.
Keep up the good work, I shall be recommending your site to my patients in their online searches."

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