Hypochobdriac. Why it says cancer. thnx?

It’s become a running joke that online symptom checkers will always make a somber consideration of your health issues and then eventually tell you, no matter what, that you have cancer. Or maybe a heart attack or possibly ruptured appendicitis or something equally grievous, but it’s definitely going to kill you. That is, if it’s not just a cold or a viral sinus infection or some gas pain. So why are these self-evaluation tools always all over the place, and why do they keep whispering about cancer? Will advances in artificial intelligence ever improve the situation, or will the computers keep telling all of us forever that our stomachaches are actually second-trimester pregnancies? Being both a doctor and also constantly immersed in health technology at Spruce, I’ve got a few thoughts. And I think I can tell you why the internet keeps saying that you have cancer.

It lists all the possibilities that can be associated with that particular symptom. Google isn't made to think as a complete diagnosis system like a doctor. A doctor would take into consideration the patients age, sex, residence, socio economic status, time of presentation, the way the patient walks, talks, dresses, the combination of symptoms, duration and severity of those symptoms, any associated findings with that symptoms, onset, duration, progression of disease, combined with his knowledge of common and prevailing diseases in such substrata of patients added with his knowledge and expertise in examination, finally followed by confirmation and documentation by the appropriate investigations. That is why it takes a doctor many years to reach to a place where he can diagnose and prescribe medicines within seconds if not minutes. And that is also why Google can't do all that in one second of search of Symptoms by a patient. Hope that helps 😊