11–20 of 99 posts
we won't be able to repair these various cancers until we can do whole cell emulation on the offending cell and contrast/compare it to a healthy equivalent. We need to understand the mechanics of cells down to the molecular level. Then maybe we can think of a fix. At this stage in society, we know just enough about cancers to do more harm than good in the remaining years of life for the worst forms of cancer.
As a 26 year old American, my experiences with the US hospital system have been so abysmal that I would consider not even seeking treatment for many serious conditions unless I knew the solution would be straightforward. Abysmal in terms of having good medical outcomes, and being treated respectfully by hospital staff (who tend to be extremely overworked). Plus, it's degrading to have no control over how much you wil…
You can't just fix this problem at one level; it's pretty endemic. To start with, I'd love to be able to opt-out of unlikely-to-improve-my-outcome procedures, but even with those wishes doctors are likely to still act because of other pressures.
we won't be able to repair these various cancers until we can do whole cell emulation on the offending cell and contrast/compare it to a healthy equivalent. We need to understand the mechanics of cells down to the molecular level. Then maybe we can think of a fix. At this stage in society, we know just enough about cancers to do more harm than good in the remaining years of life for the worst forms of cancer.
For example, WILT / OncoSENS. Which is to say turn off all mechanisms for telomere lengthening and work around the issues that will cause by replacing stem cell populations:
http://www.fightaging.org/archives/2011/10/accumulating-the-...
http://sens.org/research/introduction-to-sens-research/onco
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Further, even a robust cure for a specific cancer based on targeted cell killing (by surface chemistry or other markers) doesn't require a complete understanding of the cancer cell - you just need to identify a reliable marker, no need to understand why it's a reliable marker.
"someone breaking their ribs in an attempt to resuscitate them with CPR (that’s what happens if CPR is done right)" Is that always necessarily true...?
There's new technology that automates this and the incident of rib-breakage is, as I understand, drastically minimized. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AutoPulse)
As an anecdote, my 70+ year old dentist (i.e. not the demographic with the strongest bones) had a heart attack (clinically dead). The responding EMTs used the AutoPulse, which saved his life. It pumped his heart for 10+ minutes while 1 EMT gave him air and the other drove to the hospital. No brain damage, no broken ribs.
As a 26 year old American, my experiences with the US hospital system have been so abysmal that I would consider not even seeking treatment for many serious conditions unless I knew the solution would be straightforward. Abysmal in terms of having good medical outcomes, and being treated respectfully by hospital staff (who tend to be extremely overworked). Plus, it's degrading to have no control over how much you wil…
I also think the system puts too much stress on relatives and the patient when it comes to choices and bureaucracy. Coming from Sweden, just having to choose between 7-8 different insurance plans is headache enough, but to have to choose your doctor, your hospital etc is just too much. I don't want to have to think about it. Americans seem to value choice and being able to shop around much more highly than I do. "Being a good consumer". I can intellectually understand why, but making choices all the time for everything is very taxing and energy consuming, and at some point I just want to be taken care of.
As a 26 year old American, my experiences with the US hospital system have been so abysmal that I would consider not even seeking treatment for many serious conditions unless I knew the solution would be straightforward. Abysmal in terms of having good medical outcomes, and being treated respectfully by hospital staff (who tend to be extremely overworked). Plus, it's degrading to have no control over how much you wil…
Even the simplest visit is an excruciatingly long, bureaucratic, kafkaesque nightmare where your bank account is drained, and the patient has little if any input or control over how they're treated. Hospitals just suck.
HN Commentary from 2011: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3313570
we won't be able to repair these various cancers until we can do whole cell emulation on the offending cell and contrast/compare it to a healthy equivalent. We need to understand the mechanics of cells down to the molecular level. Then maybe we can think of a fix. At this stage in society, we know just enough about cancers to do more harm than good in the remaining years of life for the worst forms of cancer.
*: Before responding, read the still-highly-relevant: http://www.andersonlocalization.com/pdf/more_is_different.pd...
As a 26 year old American, my experiences with the US hospital system have been so abysmal that I would consider not even seeking treatment for many serious conditions unless I knew the solution would be straightforward. Abysmal in terms of having good medical outcomes, and being treated respectfully by hospital staff (who tend to be extremely overworked). Plus, it's degrading to have no control over how much you wil…
As Americans, we seem unable to realize that in many cases the best thing to do is nothing, or just keep an eye on it. We love the thought of "fighting cancer." You can't just fix this problem at one level; it's pretty endemic. To start with, I'd love to be able to opt-out of unlikely-to-improve-my-outcome procedures, but even with those wishes doctors are likely to still act because of other pressures.
IF you really don't want CPR, or heroic measures to be taken on you, then get a DO NOT RECUSSITATE' or DNR tattoo on your chest or side, where the defib pads go (just in case) and carry around a copy of your advanced directives in your wallet.
For everything else, you will be conscious and thus have the ability to tell someone 'no'
Earlier quoted context omitted.
As Americans, we seem unable to realize that in many cases the best thing to do is nothing, or just keep an eye on it. We love the thought of "fighting cancer." You can't just fix this problem at one level; it's pretty endemic. To start with, I'd love to be able to opt-out of unlikely-to-improve-my-outcome procedures, but even with those wishes doctors are likely to still act because of other pressures.
You can make your wishes explicitly known, it's called 'advanced directives' however most people either don't know about this or don't want to have to think about it because it involves facing their own mortality. IF you really don't want CPR, or heroic measures to be taken on you, then get a DO NOT RECUSSITATE' or DNR tattoo on your chest or side, where the defib pads go (just in case) and carry around a copy of you…
I'm not interested in the debate as to why this is, just trying to inform people.