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Comment by quickben | Hacker News Reader

So, our family doctor jokes that patients would come to him and say 'Oh, I googled whats wrong with me, I just need your second opinion' :)

Jokes aside, human doctors won't be replaced in foreseeable future, but many people will screw up their lives because non-human gave them the diagnosis (to read, or ai, or webpage), and be late for receiving the appropriate medications.

Think Theranos, but with far greater potential (because there are no physical tests here, it's just text, so the reach is greater) to screw people to not seek the correct help, in a timely manner.

If anything, there should be law outlawing websites like this.

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"If anything, there should be law outlawing websites like this."

There is, don't worry. This would be 'Standalone Software' that is labeled as:

"intended for use in the diagnosis of disease or other conditions, or in the cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease, in man or other animals"

So, by claiming to be a Medical Device, it's regulated. And since it seems to be a pretty lousy, unapproved, medical device, it's actually illegal.

Maybe when Theranos.com comes available, these guys could try to snag it though!

[1]http://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/DeviceRegulationandGuidanc...

I'm curious -- does this kind of regulation apply to a site like WebMD as well?

my family doctor is quite happy that patients do research. She says that while some are hypochondriacs who have all the diseases in Google, most of the time it is useful for the patients to have spent some time researching. It saves her explanation time when the patient is informed, and also some edge cases pop up where the patient came in with a good insight.

Maybe it's just me but I find most doctors both dismissive and rushed. They just throw pills at you without much consideration and then on to the next patient -- can hardly get a word in. Doing your own research may in fact be critical to your health, though doctors are not likely to be interested in discussing the details.

It's not just you but in the US it mostly depends on your health insurance and luck/research. My current plan is an HMO/PPO hybrid with a very large network so I get great doctors and never feel rushed. Since my plan doesn't require a primary care physician I just went to each doctor under my plan, one by one sorted by online reviews, until I found the right one. A good doctor's office will also keep track of where their patients go for specialized care so I just go to the specialists recommended by my primary doctor and never have a problem with quality.

Every time I visit my doctor, I have to remind him of all the conditions I had mentioned in previous visits. Is this normal?

Sounds like you just have terrible doctors ... you should do as much research and find a competent provider.

Well I'm still hoping for a "I'm feeling lucky" button for this. Type in a symptom, get redirected straight to a product page of an online pharmacy.

Looks like you missed this prominently placed note: "Online diagnosis is for informational and educational purposes only and should not be treated as a doctor's advice or medical consultation."

Having said that, this is not a commercial website. This is an open source[1] demo showing how can an online checkup tool work.

I don't think such kind of informational tools is a bad thing, even if they are commercial. In fact, these tools are helpful for personal research. Of course, actual diagnosis and treatment should be left to medical professionals. AI application in the medical domain is still in nascent stage and can presently only work as "assistive" at best. It is not going to become "prescriptive" or replace professionals in near future.

[1]https://github.com/mastercoder82/getwell-soon

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