Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Google almost convinced me to spend $400 on useless laser treatments

blog.tjcx.me

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

381–390 of 438 posts

Re: Google almost convinced me to spend $400 on useless laser treatments

#381

Post by zo1 »

FollowingTheDao wrote: post #234
bryanlarsen wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lupus is really hard to diagnose. There's a reason that ends up being the diagnosis on pretty much every episode of House M.D. Doctors generally see 6 patients an hour, and have 5-7 minutes of paperwork per patient. The remaining 3 minutes gives enough time to diagnose the obvious, but not much else.

It is not hard to diagnose once you eventually get to a person that can diagnose it. You said it yourself. It is not about difficultly, but time spent with the patient. But I literally showed my doctor the cutaneous lupus in my ear and she said "Oh, some people just get gunk in their ears" and would not send me to a rheumatologist. The slow diagnosis is because the specialists are so reluctant to see people. Right no…

I live in a country with private Healthcare and I could call and book an appointment with any kind of specialist anywhere from a day to 6 months. The reason it takes longer is usually because they're fully booked due to demand. And when I get an appointment, I can sit in that office for an hour asking anything I want. And my medical aid will pay for it. That is capitalism.

Re: Google almost convinced me to spend $400 on useless laser treatments

#382

Post by e-dt »

JamesBarney wrote: post #320
FollowingTheDao wrote: post #318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since when do salaries have nothing to do with capitalism?

The Soviet Union had wages to, and far worse problems with shortages then capitalistic countries have ever had.

Yes, but not in general shortages of doctors. It's a totally different problem, so this isn't really a helpful way to look at it. After all, if there's a shortage of cabbages, it doesn't mean the remaining cabbages benefit and can lobby to keep it that way!

Re: Google almost convinced me to spend $400 on useless laser treatments

#383

Post by betwixthewires »

I have a huge gripe with the phenomenon being talked about in the article.

First comes the idea that you can't make health decisions yourself, or treat yourself for health problems. Got a back ache? See (read: pay) a doctor. Got a wart on your toe? Got a sunburn? Go pay a professional for their services, this is the only solution.

Adding to this is the lawsuit addled consumer climate of our society. Best not give anyone any sort of information about anything, lest they sue you for it.

I actually googled a question and an article I read told me to talk to my healthcare team. Team? Each of us has to have an army of highly paid professionals to figure out why our head itches?

You can't google anything health related anymore and actually get information about it. You get a little walkthrough of possible causes of anything followed by a "see your doctor." I just want to know what exercises to do to relieve back pain.

Taking care of yourself shouldn't require you to visit a specialist for anything other than extreme circumstances. The information on how to take care of yourself is available online, hidden behind marketing funnels. Used to be I'd find a bunch of crystal healing blogs and the like, and I'd bitch about it, now I'm wishing for them back because in between the bullshit they're more helpful than being told to pay someone to (maybe) tell me.

Re: Google almost convinced me to spend $400 on useless laser treatments

#384

Post by WalterBright »

mmcdermott wrote: post #294
FollowingTheDao wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is not hard to diagnose once you eventually get to a person that can diagnose it. You said it yourself. It is not about difficultly, but time spent with the patient. But I literally showed my doctor the cutaneous lupus in my ear and she said "Oh, some people just get gunk in their ears" and would not send me to a rheumatologist. The slow diagnosis is because the specialists are so reluctant to see people. Right no…

> The slow diagnosis is because the specialists are so reluctant to see people. Right now I am on a six month wait to see a rheumatologist. Why? Capitalism. This remark seems somewhat lacking in rigor. I know bagging on capitalism is a common reflex, particularly in medicine, but something more is almost certainly going on. The default thought process for a retailer is to move units. A lawyer wants to rack up billabl…

> I am on a six month wait to see a rheumatologist. Why? Capitalism.

Consider that the AMA is a monopoly enshrined by the government, and their purpose is to limit the supply of doctors, which they do by limiting the seats in medical schools.

It's not capitalism.

See Competition & Monopoly in Medical Care by Frech.

https://www.amazon.com/Competition-Monopoly-Medical-Care-Fre...

Re: Google almost convinced me to spend $400 on useless laser treatments

#385

Post by WalterBright »

ClumsyPilot wrote: post #375
tyrfing wrote: post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Right now I am on a six month wait to see a rheumatologist. Why? Capitalism. Typically that's anti-capitalist: there are very strong government and regulatory limits on who can perform the services, and for self-serving reasons, they maintain shortages of supply. The free-market capitalist solution would be for prices to rise to a point where supply and demand are balanced, either by supply increasing (people switc…

> for prices to rise to a point where supply and demand are balanced Is there a limit to the amount of money you would pay to save your life? Is there a predatry loan you wouldn't take to pay for life-saving surgery for your child? Has this ever been demonstrated to work in healthcare in the real world, outside free-market fantasy land?

Yes, in the US before the government took over health care.

BTW, no government is going to spend unlimited sums to save your life.

Re: Google almost convinced me to spend $400 on useless laser treatments

#386

Post by FollowingTheDao »

zo1 wrote: post #381
FollowingTheDao wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is not hard to diagnose once you eventually get to a person that can diagnose it. You said it yourself. It is not about difficultly, but time spent with the patient. But I literally showed my doctor the cutaneous lupus in my ear and she said "Oh, some people just get gunk in their ears" and would not send me to a rheumatologist. The slow diagnosis is because the specialists are so reluctant to see people. Right no…

I live in a country with private Healthcare and I could call and book an appointment with any kind of specialist anywhere from a day to 6 months. The reason it takes longer is usually because they're fully booked due to demand. And when I get an appointment, I can sit in that office for an hour asking anything I want. And my medical aid will pay for it. That is capitalism.

> And my medical aid will pay for it. That is capitalism.

No, that is socialism inside capitalism. Let me explain. I assume by "medical aid" you mean insurance, right? What is insurance? It is a bunch of people pooling their money so they can reduce risk and pay for each others health care.

Capice?

Re: Google almost convinced me to spend $400 on useless laser treatments

#387

Post by FollowingTheDao »

WalterBright wrote: post #385
ClumsyPilot wrote: post #375

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> for prices to rise to a point where supply and demand are balanced Is there a limit to the amount of money you would pay to save your life? Is there a predatry loan you wouldn't take to pay for life-saving surgery for your child? Has this ever been demonstrated to work in healthcare in the real world, outside free-market fantasy land?

Yes, in the US before the government took over health care. BTW, no government is going to spend unlimited sums to save your life.

> Yes, in the US before the government took over health care.

When did that happen? If you are thinking Obama care, uhm, no.

> BTW, no government is going to spend unlimited sums to save your life.

You are missing the point. Supply and demand curves break when it comes to life and death matters. That is why prices should not be dictated by a free market. Well, I guess that is fine if you are a sociopath.

Re: Google almost convinced me to spend $400 on useless laser treatments

#388

Post by dzhiurgis »

petesergeant wrote: post #7

> Laser bacterial reduction (LBR) is just one example of the many high-stakes medical decisions Whether or not to drop $400 is not a "high-stakes medical decision". Also, expecting Google to give you high-quality medical advice when your actual, licensed, trained dental hygienest is not is asking a lot of a search engine. Personally I've found sticking "examine.com" on the end of most results to be very useful for an…

I’m big fan of medscape. Friend who is a doctor recommended years ago.

Re: Google almost convinced me to spend $400 on useless laser treatments

#389

Post by throwaway675309 »

WalterBright wrote: post #385
ClumsyPilot wrote: post #375

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> for prices to rise to a point where supply and demand are balanced Is there a limit to the amount of money you would pay to save your life? Is there a predatry loan you wouldn't take to pay for life-saving surgery for your child? Has this ever been demonstrated to work in healthcare in the real world, outside free-market fantasy land?

Yes, in the US before the government took over health care. BTW, no government is going to spend unlimited sums to save your life.

Might wanna go over your history again.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=3qpLVTbVHnU&t=34s

The people who tend to be the most ardent defenders of private medical care are usually the same people who have had the fewest reasons to actually depend on it. They're also the same people that declare the United States the greatest country in the world despite having never lived anywhere else but the lower 48.

Post reply on HN