Christmas was really great but one thing was upsetting. My mum's partner's daughter was home from the hospital for a few days to be with family. She isn't really my sister but she has been in every way but by blood since I was quite young. She has Batten disease and is already on borrowed time. It was sad to see how much her health has deteriorated but I should be sadder. I feel mostly numb about the whole thing. She's been sick for so long.
Truean: Having seen you bring it up a fair few times this reminded me of you.
I imagine doctors get a lot of patients who are overinformed by the internet. "Oh, well I asked Dr. Dotcom and he said it was beri beri."
I went to the Doctors feeling really rough and claiming to have glandular fever and they disagreed. After three visits and three different courses of medication I was too sick to go in again so they sent a doctor round. After only a minute examining me he declared that I had glandular fever and gave me a course of medication that cured me within a week. I'm probably just being paranoid but I think they decided against glandular fever because I suggested it.
For whatever it may be worth I'm sorry about your sister.... Your link has a ring of truth to it and I can see most of it as pretty valid overall, though it's of course more complex. As for your self diagnosis, you're probably right. They probably did it because you said it. However, think of all the people who get it wrong off the internet. You're probably the exception rather than the rule.
Yes to both of the above.
Asking that stuff is like demanding a doctor tell you "Just what's wrong with me." He doesn't have a clue til they do all those tests; that's why they do 'em.... Then imagine insisting to the doctor that some asinine, false thing about biology is true, cause you read it somewhere.... He went to med school, I'm trustin' him. Also, if he screws up, then he gets sued. The internet, on the other hand, is in the business of bullshit.
There is an important distinction here, in that there are many people who ask the doctor general questions and only expect general answers. Stuff like "Oh, a sore stomach? If it's chronic and prevents you from doing your daily activities then you may want to see this specialist." Remind them of the top ten reasons people die in their country and suggest they look into seeing if it falls into something that can be done about those. Pretty easy stuff that the doctor should know but doesn't really require much time or effort on their side to friends or quick questions from clients.
I'm sure you would be okay with general questions with general expectations, like "If I do this will I have to go through a ton of paperwork?" and "Where can I go to check some laws on some specific asinine thing?" Although those people seem to be in short supply for you and my post doesn't really address the question apart from splitting hairs.
Actual general questions by themselves would be alright. The only problems are a.) those are in short supply, because b.) they never stay general, because c.) people never ask those questions until its too late and they have a personal sake in it, and d.) they really want to know a concrete course of action to take, even though e.) they don't know the key details to say and due to that, f.) I'm on the hook if it's wrong for lack of investigating that information they didn't provide (thus making it complicated).
If someone wants to know where the law library is, I'd even show them. That said, they'd get lost inside, not in the isles but in the legalese books.