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sbssmadhavon My Dad died because the Cardiologist didn't think to refer to a Neurologist

guess you are right to an extent, doctors may not be the best communicators given the nature of the profession, privacy laws, time etc however, sometimes a nudge could make all the difference, don't you think? a nudge from an "app" to prompt the doctor to think of other possibilities beyond their expertise.

sbssmadhavon My Dad died because the Cardiologist didn't think to refer to a Neurologist

Yes, you are right, most doctors can also use their commonsense but in my dad's case they didn't! i hesitate to say this as my best buddy is a neurologist but i agree with vinod khosla, in a few years doctors as we know them today will be replaced by technology (http://venturebeat.com/2012/09/02/vinod-khosla-says-technolo...)!

they should be able to work on a higher level, just as we moved up the chain from punch cards and assembly code on 8080s doctors need to move up the chain as well, otherwise we will have many near and dear ones dying due to single point failure (PCP)!

to answer your question, i am working on an app (will post a link to it in the next 2-3 weeks) that brings the patient closer to more physicians, hopefully someone relevant, in my dad's case, a neurologist (at least it takes the risk of seeing one doctor out of the equation).

sbssmadhavon My Dad died because the Cardiologist didn't think to refer to a Neurologist

what you propose is interesting, it's so simple that it sounds borderline idiotic but i think this awareness alone could have prompted my dad to ask his doctor about a possible stroke or approach a neurologist just to be on the safer side.

sbssmadhavon My Dad died because the Cardiologist didn't think to refer to a Neurologist

indeed, i think the patient (and family) probably cares more about patient's health than the doctors (unfortunately true). my solution is along the lines of what healthtap is doing, the patient posts a question and a few real doctors respond back, the patient makes a better informed decision than rely on a single physician to make or break his/her life!

one big difference between what i am developing versus what healthtap is doing is that i want to develop some sort of scoring for doctors' responses so that we can help the patient make a better decision instead of being confused with 10 or 20 different responses. actually even worse, many doctor responses on healthtap and other such sites is something along the lines of "you should see your doctor", duh!