ot. do we need doctors

[scaredyclassic]

I can imagine a future with way fewer doctors and maybe way lower insurance costs. I don’t have hard data, but a lot of medicine is dealing with the worried well. Also, giving info to people.

As to the worried well, I think your vitals will be taken on your iphone, it’ll go to a robotic doc who has your whole history and you’ll be dismissed as OK or required to get further testing. Emotionally the human probably wins out, but Son of Siri ultimately probably will be diagnosing future generations, and more accurately.

Infotmation….you get referred to websites by your robodoc. ..

Broken legs you still need to come in. But most health issues will be computerized.

Doctoring will decline in employment over the next 50 years.

Insurance costs will decrease.

I’m not sure docs really help people in many cases any more than a machine could.

[spdrun]

If only diagnosis were as simple as taking a heart rate, BP, temperature, and respiration rate.

[scaredyclassic]

Art and science.

Minus the art, we just need a good algorithm.

[bobby]

it’s a lot more complicated than just data
sure, more data is helpful but not enough
I work in Silicon Valley, arguably the area with the most educated and motivated folks in US of A. If it were as simple as “giving out info to people”. My own observation – giving out info is woefully inadequate.

people know about smoking, eating well, and exercise is good for health (it’s not brain surgery). yet, incidence of obesity and diabetes is climbing every year. Billions are spent every new year on exercising equipments which are excellent dust collectors.

Also, a lot of different disorders have the same symptoms: chest pain for GERD, costochondritis, heart disease, bronchitis. Some are harmless, while others are lethal. You are going to trust an app with your life? Your child’s life – let’s say she has fever with red tongue (would you know to look at the tongue)?

what about medicine? I have hypertension, let’s order some antihypertensive from the local pharmacist. Dose? frequency? type? duration? monitoring?

all kind of education and intelligence in general populace. Who’s qualified to diagnose? Would a construction worker or a mail carrier make wrong diagnosis as opposed to a neurobiologist researcher.

also, baby boomers are reaching their golden years. Not sure if less MD’s is a good idea.

just off the top of my head….

[moneymaker]

I have a new theory that most drugs do not in themselves cure, but what they do is get your body to react to the drugs in a way that the body cures itself (via the liver or thymus). i.e. even if you didn’t go to the doctors office you would probably get better on your own once your body realizes something is wrong. An example would be chemo which attacks your body and the body fights off the poison. Obviously there are things like diabetes that is well documented that insulin is needed. I do think there will be a cure for it in the near future as well as many other diseases. The amyloid proteins that cause a lot of disease could be dissolved followed by stem cell production for healing. When we were in our fetal stage the T cells were produced by the liver, so I’m sure the liver has some incredible healing abilities.

[scaredyclassic]

Docs run thru algorithms in their own heads, some more complex than others. None as well informed as the super doc app. Yeah, I’d trust self driving cars to drive better than me, and robot docs to do a better job as gatekeepers on average.

They have a theoretical advantage, human docs, in that they can for close trusted relationships that have value…but in reality that doesn’t happen much nowadays

[ocrenter]

a better question would be “do we need people”.

ultimately AI will prove to be superior to human beings in all aspects. And a mechanical body with infinitely exchangeable and upgradeable parts will be superior to biologic based, age limited body.

Do we want to go there is the question…

[scaredyclassic]

[quote=ocrenter]a better question would be “do we need people”.

ultimately AI will prove to be superior to human beings in all aspects. And a mechanical body with infinitely exchangeable and upgradeable parts will be superior to biologic based, age limited body.

Do we want to go there is the question…[/quote]

We can keep some humans around for old times sake.

[scaredyclassic]

I bet if we eliminated 75 perc. Of med. Services human lifespans and outcomes would be similar

[FlyerInHi]

[quote=scaredyclassic]I bet if we eliminated 75 perc. Of med. Services human lifespans and outcomes would be similar[/quote]

Yes. The worried well use a lot of services.
Healthcare is like a food buffet. People consume a lot because they can. The results aren’t pretty and speak for themselves.
Private system we have is misallocating resources.

I don’t get people who like to take pills. I avoid. Never have to take painkillers.

And new study said patients are more honest with their smart phone apps than with their doctors.

[bobby]

a computer can do a lot of things better than a smartest human. At the same time, it can’t do some simple things a toddler can’t.

the day will come when a computer will surpass a human in diagnosing and treating disease. when that day is anyone’s guess

[bearishgurl]

[quote=scaredyclassic]I bet if we eliminated 75 perc. Of med. Services human lifespans and outcomes would be similar[/quote]I somewhat agree with this, scaredy, and know several people (yes, boomers) who shun conventional medicine whenever possible in favor of (unreimbursed and uncovered) homeopathic medicine. In some cases, I think shunning traditional medicine (whenever possible) could lead to a longer lifespan.

However, the average Joe and Jane 6p likely has not adopted a strict enough lifestyle to “maintain” themselves without medical intervention, especially when they reach the age of 55-ish. For example, most people would be bored with eating cooked steel-cut oats with flaxseed 6-7 mornings per week and living mostly on raw food (salads and vegetables). And most people don’t have the discipline to hit the gym for weight training, lap swimming and go to yoga class, etc, 3 or more times per week. Fortunately, in So-Cal (and probably other locales such as urban CO) there are also a lot of non-gym activities in place for boomers, including hiking and skiing clubs and running/walking clubs. Hence, there are a LOT of fit (even very fit) boomers around me.

The same can’t be said for the population of mostly flatlanders in this country who end up getting “shut in” under air-conditioning for most of the year and have a food culture which is more oriented towards the meat and dairy industries located in their states.

We in Cali are very fortunate to have an abundance of cheap produce available year-round which is grown here or in MX. This isn’t the case in most of the rest of the country.

[bearishgurl]

[quote=scaredyclassic][quote=ocrenter]a better question would be “do we need people”.

ultimately AI will prove to be superior to human beings in all aspects. And a mechanical body with infinitely exchangeable and upgradeable parts will be superior to biologic based, age limited body.

Do we want to go there is the question…[/quote]

We can keep some humans around for old times sake.[/quote]LOL …

[bearishgurl]

[quote=FlyerInHi][quote=scaredyclassic]I bet if we eliminated 75 perc. Of med. Services human lifespans and outcomes would be similar[/quote]

Yes. The worried well use a lot of services.
Healthcare is like a food buffet. People consume a lot because they can. The results aren’t pretty and speak for themselves.
Private system we have is misallocating resources.

I don’t get people who like to take pills. I avoid. Never have to take painkillers.

And new study said patients are more honest with their smart phone apps than with their doctors.[/quote]Agree. And $40 month for a Y membership is a LOT cheaper than one single brand-name prescription (for pain pills?) per month. And if you actually use it, it works better, too :=0

[FlyerInHi]

When I had a dog I quickly grew sick of paying vet bills, and being upsold useless services.
I vaccinated and scrapped the tartar off the golden retriever’s teeth myself. I even froze warts off myself. No need for a Vet. She lived to 18 and could have lived to 20. I put her down at animal control in mission valley for $5.

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