Comments on: NCBI ROFL: Who needs a doctor when you have Facebook? http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/2012/02/01/ncbi-rofl-who-needs-a-doctor-when-you-have-facebook/ Sat, 11 May 2013 22:50:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2 By: Tony Mach http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/2012/02/01/ncbi-rofl-who-needs-a-doctor-when-you-have-facebook/#comment-25940 Tony Mach Sat, 04 Feb 2012 11:25:00 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/?p=20713#comment-25940 Well, first of all, six case stories is an awful small sample size. So it is difficult to draw conclusions from this. Yet I would not categorize this as ROFL.  The reality is simply that people will seek help from their friends in medical issues, before (and even instead of) going to a doctor. There are multitudes of reasons for this (cost, time, or simply not bothering to go to the doctor for everything…) and it would behoove medical sciences to acknowledge the reality of health care from time to time – addressing reality with studies is not ROFL. But thanks to bringing it to my attention :-) Well, first of all, six case stories is an awful small sample size. So it is difficult to draw conclusions from this.

Yet I would not categorize this as ROFL. 

The reality is simply that people will seek help from their friends in medical issues, before (and even instead of) going to a doctor. There are multitudes of reasons for this (cost, time, or simply not bothering to go to the doctor for everything…) and it would behoove medical sciences to acknowledge the reality of health care from time to time – addressing reality with studies is not ROFL.

But thanks to bringing it to my attention :-)

]]> By: Juan http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/2012/02/01/ncbi-rofl-who-needs-a-doctor-when-you-have-facebook/#comment-25939 Juan Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:14:00 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/?p=20713#comment-25939 "...we believe that laypersons can use his or her “Facebook friends” to identify the need to see a doctor for their symptoms rather than relying on them to give them a specific diagnosis for their symptoms.” So what was the point, exactly? “…we believe that laypersons can use his or her “Facebook friends” to identify the need to see a doctor for their symptoms rather than relying on them to give them a specific diagnosis for their symptoms.” So what was the point, exactly?

]]> By: H Davis79 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/2012/02/01/ncbi-rofl-who-needs-a-doctor-when-you-have-facebook/#comment-25938 H Davis79 Thu, 02 Feb 2012 03:28:00 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/?p=20713#comment-25938 Is this considered "socialized medicine"?  Is this considered “socialized medicine”? 

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