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Medical Anarchy

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Re: Medical Anarchy

#11

Post by 01Michael10 »

eli5 wrote: post #6
01Michael10 wrote: post #4

This article is for real? Am I missing something? Sure, people want a diagnosis and other services from an unregulated, anonymous doctor with a reputation built by what? Amazon-like reviews? Come on!

That's not like that at all. As far as I understand all answers doctors give are open to the public on the site, so everyone else on the internet, including other doctors, can read them and say if it's a good answer or a bad answer. I imagine if this sites starts issuing bad advice, no one would want to go there. However, as of right now, it appears you are wrong and answers are getting paid for by willing customers.…

I am not referring to CoinMD so much but this paragraph...

"Imagine a future where renegade doctors shun licensing laws and practice medicine over the internet. They build up a reputation around an anonymous identity. Use public key cryptography to sign their diagnosis, reassuring the patient that it really came from them. It’s not hard to imagine this would create a demand for anonymous accreditation agencies. These agencies could issue exams and then use their digital signature to sign the credentials of doctors who pass the exam. Patients pay for these services in anonymous currency ― Bitcoin ― and pay fraction of the price they would pay to the government enforced monopoly."

Re: Medical Anarchy

#12

Post by eli5 »

chimeracoder wrote: post #9
eli5 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, do you think that if enough people want to peacefully live without government interference at all (e.g. without a government) they don't deserve to do so and they don't deserve, for example, to be sold a piece of land to completely secede from state?

That's a very loaded (but easy) question. In the United States, we fought an entire war over the question of whether or not a state had the authority to secede from the federal government (the Union). The seceding states lost that fight. It would be very hard to argue that individuals have that right when the states do not. You may wish that it were different, but the fact is that individuals do not have this right,…

How come you consider this not to be people's right? Simply because someone lost a war over this issue doesn't mean this issue is resolved. I and many people don't want states to tell us how to live our lives. On what grounds do you find it moral to impose your rules and tax burden on such a group of people if these people simply want to be left alone don't bother you at all?

Re: Medical Anarchy

#13

Post by chiph »

You'd want that your physician has more training than just having read some WebMD articles. How can you be sure?

What about liability in case they're wrong? A coworker lost a relative last year because the doctor missed an obvious case of septic infection. How do you take an anonymous physician to court for a mistake like this? Hard to pay restitution when the injured party dies.

Re: Medical Anarchy

#14

Post by Xdes »

eli5 wrote: post #7
vezzy-fnord wrote: post #5

Time for a reality check. Okay, so I like the idea of CoinMD. It's a nice way for people with medical knowledge to get paid for their tips, but so far that's really about it. It's just yet another forum for medical advice, but with a gimmick. It's not even an original gimmick. The whole "integrate Bitcoin into everything" appears to be motivated by more of a cargo cult to appear modern and countercultural than anythi…

So, do you think that if enough people want to peacefully live without government interference at all (e.g. without a government) they don't deserve to do so and they don't deserve, for example, to be sold a piece of land to completely secede from state?

It's more of a get-off-my-land issue. No government is going to secede land to some fringe group (let alone another government). Look at the situation in Ukraine. The only reason the Crimeans are able to secede from Ukraine is Russia's backing. If you remove Russia from the equation then the Crimeans are left to fight the Ukrainian army and its allies.

The point is you are going to be forced to live under the rules of another no matter where you live (I'm sure there are some Crimeans that would rather not be part of Russia or any other country). Bitcoin has the potential to disrupt the economy, but it cannot provide freedom of movement or freedom from taxation.

Re: Medical Anarchy

#15

Post by eli5 »

01Michael10 wrote: post #11
eli5 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not like that at all. As far as I understand all answers doctors give are open to the public on the site, so everyone else on the internet, including other doctors, can read them and say if it's a good answer or a bad answer. I imagine if this sites starts issuing bad advice, no one would want to go there. However, as of right now, it appears you are wrong and answers are getting paid for by willing customers.…

I am not referring to CoinMD so much but this paragraph... "Imagine a future where renegade doctors shun licensing laws and practice medicine over the internet. They build up a reputation around an anonymous identity. Use public key cryptography to sign their diagnosis, reassuring the patient that it really came from them. It’s not hard to imagine this would create a demand for anonymous accreditation agencies. These…

I think it's a great paragraph, actually. This described future is not that different from what we have now. You would still have licences and doctors checked and examined. However, it would be done not by one monopoly (state), but rather by various organizations. Don't you think this would actually increase professionalism? So imagine doctors would actually have to comply with various rigorous standards different accreditation agencies demand, since they want to be able to treat more patients (that is, have more customers). Isn't such a system better? And wouldn't it be more flexible since those accreditation agencies would be able to quickly adjust their standards according to what market demands? On the other hand, there are plenty of medical professionals that don't really need some standardized kind of training that state currently requires them to have. Thus, it's a waste of time and resources for them (and higher prices for consumers). In a free system, they could simply skip to what they believe best suits their specialty.

CoinMD may be at its infancy now, but I can totally see it becoming one of such agencies in the future. It's not gonna be like Amazon reviews of course, more like professional accreditation, audit and licencing - but on the free market.

Re: Medical Anarchy

#16

Post by vezzy-fnord »

eli5 wrote: post #7
vezzy-fnord wrote: post #5

Time for a reality check. Okay, so I like the idea of CoinMD. It's a nice way for people with medical knowledge to get paid for their tips, but so far that's really about it. It's just yet another forum for medical advice, but with a gimmick. It's not even an original gimmick. The whole "integrate Bitcoin into everything" appears to be motivated by more of a cargo cult to appear modern and countercultural than anythi…

So, do you think that if enough people want to peacefully live without government interference at all (e.g. without a government) they don't deserve to do so and they don't deserve, for example, to be sold a piece of land to completely secede from state?

Sure is straw man in here.

No, I'm hardly a statist. I'm just saying Bitcoin will not solve the problem.

Re: Medical Anarchy

#17

Post by eli5 »

Xdes wrote: post #14
eli5 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, do you think that if enough people want to peacefully live without government interference at all (e.g. without a government) they don't deserve to do so and they don't deserve, for example, to be sold a piece of land to completely secede from state?

It's more of a get-off-my-land issue. No government is going to secede land to some fringe group (let alone another government). Look at the situation in Ukraine. The only reason the Crimeans are able to secede from Ukraine is Russia's backing. If you remove Russia from the equation then the Crimeans are left to fight the Ukrainian army and its allies. The point is you are going to be forced to live under the rules o…

Well, Russia sold Alaska to the US. So who knows. But I agree states are actually very aggressive and territorial. They're not going to give up land easily, even if this land is a desert.

Re: Medical Anarchy

#18

Post by Xdes »

eli5 wrote: post #7
vezzy-fnord wrote: post #5

Time for a reality check. Okay, so I like the idea of CoinMD. It's a nice way for people with medical knowledge to get paid for their tips, but so far that's really about it. It's just yet another forum for medical advice, but with a gimmick. It's not even an original gimmick. The whole "integrate Bitcoin into everything" appears to be motivated by more of a cargo cult to appear modern and countercultural than anythi…

So, do you think that if enough people want to peacefully live without government interference at all (e.g. without a government) they don't deserve to do so and they don't deserve, for example, to be sold a piece of land to completely secede from state?

eli5 your posts are marked dead, so no one will be able to read them.

Re: Medical Anarchy

#19

Post by final_approach »

chiph wrote: post #13

You'd want that your physician has more training than just having read some WebMD articles. How can you be sure? What about liability in case they're wrong? A coworker lost a relative last year because the doctor missed an obvious case of septic infection. How do you take an anonymous physician to court for a mistake like this? Hard to pay restitution when the injured party dies.

Punishment is just one way of ensuring doctors pay attention. And as many people find out, it doesn't actually work simply because doctors make mistakes anyway.

Now, for a price $10 I don't think anyone should expect any kind of liability. It's advice. If someone gives you a $10 take it as such and go see another doctor for $100 if you're unsure. To my understanding CoinMD simply provides what market needs: cheap accessible advice of reasonable quality. If you could sue doctors there, prices wouldn't be as low.

Re: Medical Anarchy

#20

Post by chimeracoder »

nickff wrote: post #8
chimeracoder wrote: post #3

> The AMA, which is little more than a union for doctors, doesn’t allow any policy changes that threaten to increase competition and reduce their monopoly profits That's like saying that Comcast/Time Warner are a "union for Internet users". If the AMA were "little more than a union for doctors", doctors would have a lot more respect for it, instead of the great contempt that they currently do. If anything, you could…

> "That's like saying that Comcast/Time Warner are a "union for Internet users"." Comcast and Time Warner are most comparable to hospital chains in the medical context (or perhaps insurers, depending on what parameters you choose for the comparison). > "If the AMA were "little more than a union for doctors", doctors would have a lot more respect for it, instead of the great contempt that they currently do." Many rank…

> The AMA's members are physicians, and other medical personnel; you may look at the AMA as a union, lobbying group, or a professional association, but it is certainly not advocating for the interests of the insurers.[1]

Explicitly, certainly not. But in some ways they do end up empowering insurers (whether intentionally or corruption of their original intent).

(And by the way, I didn't mean that this was the case either; just that it was a slightly less ludicrous interpretation than the original statement.)

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