Should you trust your doctor?

Yes. Maybe. But do a little asking around first.

An opinion piece on CNN.com from Anthony Youn, MD, a Detroit-based plastic surgeon, has some good, common-sense advice for everyone seeking a physician.

Start by poking around online. Online health care rating services like Healthgrades have long had information about quality and malpractice experience (usually taken from state databases). They are now being joined by the likes of Angie's List, where patients rate doctors on the experience they had.

One of Dr. Youn's specific pieces of advice: 

Be cautious of doctors who advertise too much. The quality of a doctor is often inversely proportional to the size of his or her ad.

This may be less true as physicians and large practices join even larger health systems where advertising will become an increasingly important part of practice building and practice management. The irony is when I accessed the page on CNN.com, the right column included sponsored links from physicians!

Dr. Youn's final advice:  

So should you trust your doctor?

Yes.

After you do your research.

Just what the doctor ordered.