“You can send a private message to anyone by hovering over their user name and then clicking “Send Message”. Or you can go to your inbox (upper right of the header) and then click Compose. If you know the user’s name, then you can send them a message this way.”

I did indeed miss that feature—and the Patient Profile pages are beautifully laid out, too.

And it was indeed very remiss on my part not to have examined the Expert Forums. I had assumed that the answers from medical people would be part of the Medical Support Communities, as in Patients Like Me where the (admittedly tiny compared to the vast array of experts at MedHelp) medical staff are part of the daily running of the community, at least in the ALS forum. At MedHelp, there are indeed some extremely helpful, detailed answers from extremely well-trained physicians on a huge number of matters. That is indeed a valuable addition to the sum total of consumer health on the web and probably should at least be known of by medical librarians.

The only major flaws to the richness of the Expert Forums are, again, the lack of real human bonds between the medical people and users versus the warmth prevailing at Patients Like Me and the fact that some of the experts seem to be much more prompt to answer questions (quick responses on the Ovarian Cancer Expert Forum versus nine questions and no answers since August 17 on the Trigeminal Neuralgia Expert Forum). A consumer could have gone to his local public library for some help or to MedlinePlus in that interval. Experts aren’t always enough. Speed of response is crucial given that consumers expect information on demand these days—especially for medical information on a web site.

Still, it is indeed a boon for average people that there is now a place where they can pose questions that will be answered in a succinct, authoritative but understandable fashion within a few days by a physician.

This is a very promising venture and worthwhile enterprise.