WikiQueer:Reference desk/Guidelines/Medical advice

The WikiQueer reference desk is not an appropriate place to request medical, legal or other professional advice, including any kind of medical diagnosis or prognosis. Any reader may and should remove questions that appear to be soliciting medical, legal or other professional advice, or answers that give the impression of providing such.

Note: This guideline describes types of medical advice that are considered inappropriate to offer on WikiQueer as derived by the consensus of WikiQueer volunteers. Be aware that this guideline is not intended to define what constitutes the "practice of medicine" for legal or professional purposes, nor should any part of this guideline be interpreted as supplanting or superseding the regulations of any government agency or professional body.

Why?
All reference desk editors are volunteer contributors who are subject to existing WikiQueer guidelines, which specifically state that WikiQueer is not to be used or relied upon for professional advice (see WikiQueer:disclaimer). Even if such advice were permitted by WikiQueer, it is not possible, even for a health professional, to conduct examinations of users with medical problems anonymously over the internet, simply using a layman's terse description of the symptoms.

The Reference Desk is not an advice page, and moreover there is the real possibility of doing harm to readers by advising them on medical issues&mdash;either because the advice is dangerous or because it discourages them from seeing a medical professional. Therefore medical advice must not be given by question-answerers, and should not be requested.

We can, of course, answer general factual questions about medicine and medical conditions, taking special care to base our answers on reliable sources, but these facts must not be construed to apply to any particular individual for purposes of diagnosis or treatment. Since issues regarding the definition of and appropriate way to handle medical advice have been a subject of frequent debate, some specific guidelines for this issue have been agreed upon.

The same applies to legal advice. Even if general information on Law can be provided, advice regarding a particular case is not acceptable. Law is full of exceptions and strange interactions, and it is often impossible to provide sound advice based on a layman's description of the case. Law, furthermore, depends on the jurisdiction where the events took place, and advice valid in one place may be invalid elsewhere.

What does this guideline apply to?
Any posted comment containing a diagnosis, a prognosis based on that diagnosis, or a suggested form of treatment or cure, in response to symptoms presented in a question, is considered inappropriate for the reference desk, as are questions that seem to be implicitly or explicitly requesting such advice.


 * A diagnosis is the process of identifying a medical condition or disease by its symptoms. An example of a diagnosis: X says "I'm having memory problems". Y responds "you might have Alzheimer's disease".
 * A prognosis is the prediction of how a patient's disease will progress, and whether there is chance of recovery. For example, Y says "by age 50, you could lose your memory".
 * A treatment is any type or form of medication or protocol (conventional or alternative) intended to alleviate the presented symptoms or cure the disease as diagnosed. For example, Y says "try chocolate cake; I've heard it works like magic with Alzheimer's".

Note that questions may be about a medical topic ('What does HIV stand for?', for example) without necessarily seeking medical advice, and this is acceptable.

Distinguishing between what is and what is not acceptable
The difference between what is and what is not acceptable has to do with both the answer and the question. If a complete answer to the question may be given without interpretation of the condition of any actual person, it is acceptable to answer the question. If an interpretation of an actual person's condition is necessary for a complete answer, the question is asking for some form of diagnosis or treatment advice that is not allowed.

Suppose the following question is asked:
 * I have a persistent cough. Can that be caused by heartburn? Questioner 23:59, 31 December 2000 (UTC)

Although we can learn from the Wikipedia articles on cough and heartburn that in some patients heartburn is a causative factor, there is no article anywhere that states that specifically this questioner's cough may be caused by heartburn. The question cannot be answered completely without interpretation of the condition of questioner, and should be removed.

However, suppose instead the following question is asked:
 * ✅Is heartburn a common cause of a persistent cough? Questioner 23:59, 31 December 2000 (UTC)

It is possible that this questioner has a persistent cough and heartburn, but the question is merely asking for statistical information found in Cough and Heartburn. Therefore, it is acceptable to answer this question as long as the answer does not attempt to diagnose or suggest treatment for the questioner. For example, it is not permitted to answer this question with:
 * I've had heartburn with my cough. You should try drinking warm honey.  It works great! Answerer 00:00, 1 January 2001 (UTC)

Such an answer, if given by some respondent, should be removed.

Similarly, questions about whether some condition is normal (it may be normal for some people and abnormal for others), or whether some treatment offers relief, are typically questions for which a qualified answer requires examining the patient and their medical history, and must therefore be removed.

Dealing with questions asking for medical advice
Questions that appear to be soliciting medical advice, including any answers so far provided for them (regardless of their nature), should be removed and replaced with a neutral boilerplate message (such as ) informing the questioner of the removal and pointing to the reference desk guidelines.


 * 1) Verify that the question asks for medical advice as detailed above. Typically a poster will ask about one or more symptoms, and solicit an opinion about diagnosis (What is this?), prognosis (Should I be worried about this?), or courses of action (What should I do about this?). The symptoms will be those of the poster, or ascribed to a friend or relative.
 * 2) If the question appears to be asking for medical advice, remove it and any responses given so far.  In their place, insert a neutral boilerplate message (such as ) pointing to the appropriate section of the reference desk guidelines.  You may wish to sign the message or provide additional information about why the question was removed, although this is not required.  The section header should usually be left intact unless it contains the question or a substantial part of it, in which case it may be desirable to change it. Also, note the removal of the question by posting the diff on the talk page of the Reference desk.
 * 3) Consider leaving a note on the user talk page of the person who posted the question, explaining that we cannot offer medical advice. This may be accomplished using a suitable template (such as ) or a personalized message. Encourage the poster to direct their medical questions to their physician, pharmacist, parents, or guardian. Where appropriate, offer links to suitable resources. This may include internal wikilinks or external websites. Be extremely careful not to offer a diagnosis in this way. If the poster has identified their place of residence, contact information for local health professionals or hotlines may be provided.

Dealing with answers giving medical advice
Occasionally, someone may respond to a question in a way that could be interpreted as giving medical advice, even if the question itself does not directly solicit such. In those cases, it may be appropriate to only remove those specific answers.


 * 1) Verify that the answer appears to be giving medical advice as detailed above. There's no need to give the impression of hassling someone by unnecessarily removing their answers. (Responders, meanwhile, are encouraged to be very careful in handling medical questions if they've been cautioned about giving medical advice more than once.)
 * 2) If the answer does seem to offer medical advice, remove it, replacing it with a brief note explaining the reasons for the removal.
 * 3) Politely remind the responder that we cannot offer medical advice on WikiQueer, pointing them to these guidelines.

When in doubt

 * If a question arises as to whether or not medical advice was sought or given, any party (poster, responder, or third party) may post the material in question on the reference desk talk page for review and discussion.
 * If the consensus is that the given response constitutes medical advice, the response in question will be removed immediately. During this process, responders are strongly encouraged to suggest ways to rephrase answers (their own or others') to present useful information without offering a diagnosis or other medical advice.