[dragonwriter]

> why do so many patients (and their families) do their own research online [accordingly to Google, 70% of us do], even after the doctors tell them their best suggestion?

Lots of reasons.

Some because they are socialized into trusting other -- often very unreliable -- information sources, but you still can't get the actual treatments except from a doctor. So they still go to doctors -- and try to get from them what other sources have told them they need -- but don't actually particularly trust the doctors.

Some do it because they recognize that doctors are fallible, and have less at stake in any decision than the patient -- some of these people also have the skills and knowledge to be reasonably informed readers of things like medical reference and research literature (even if they aren't practitioners) and are active participants with their doctor in their own healthcare.

Some people just want to understand the meaning of the medical jargon they've gotten from their doctor.

There's probably a lot more reason for doing independent research even after getting information from a doctor.