[ExI] internet as the biggest advance in medicine ever

[spike]

A couple weeks ago I made some comments about medical marijuana.  My
interest is not in that particular medication, but rather in the structure
of law in its interaction with the medical world.  Grass is illegal, but
Taxifornia is challenging that.  So why not other medications as well?  We
have a tool where thousands of patients with any oddball disease can just
try stuff, and post to some central buletin board on how it is going,
something like this:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=control-group-patients-ta

If one has some orphan disease that can kill, learning about that disease is
an overwhelming interest.  The patient soon knows more than the doctor.  I
can imagine that is happening more and more all the time.  Medics, is it?

If one had a database of what patients were trying, coming from all over the
world, it looks to me like useful signals could eventually be extracted from
the noise.

spike 

 

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