3 ms·

As man who has been diagnosed with heart disease (as well as an alarming variety of other medical problems) I find myself quite unwilling to be appraised of the

As man who has been diagnosed with heart disease (as well as an alarming variety of other medical problems) I find myself quite unwilling to be appraised of the date and time of my death. Everyone dies. I am not one of those dogs who wants to live for ever. But even I, quite comfortable with the idea of my own mortality, do not want to watch the clock tick out the remaining hours, minutes, seconds of my life - let it remain a mystery. Unless of course you can fix the problem for a price, a very low price, which I can afford.

austinjp 10y ago
I agree about not wishing to watch a clock, and I wish you the best with your treatment and everything else you've got going on at the moment. I suspect that a responsible medical team would use this technology to alter treatment options, or at least discuss those options with the patient. Of course, that will involve discussing with the patient the likely prognosis per option. Not easy, but these conversations already happen. The hard part is this transiting phase we are entering, with this advance: we can detect organ failure with greater sensitivity, but we can't do anything about it (as I understand it). I trust that medical researchers will next want to investigate how this advance might improve survival/morbidity by altering interventions and management. Perhaps it will allow greater certainty regarding specific regimens, perhaps it will allow earlier detection. Transitions are hard, probably unavoidable, and I hope this one has a beneficial outcome.
RichardHeart 10y ago
"a very low price." Surely your life is worth more? If you browse this site, and can write thoughtful posts, you can probably earn more than most is my guess?
- lostlogin 10y ago
  I too prefer to say "I saved my life with a $10,000 epipen" rather than make the social faux pas of admitting it was a $5 generic. /s
- lsh 10y ago
  Americans have to pay extortionate amounts for their health care. If you have to re-mortgage your house for a few more years of life and saddle your survivors with debt that can't be paid off then it may be best to do the responsible thing and accept your fate.

austinjp 10y ago

I agree about not wishing to watch a clock, and I wish you the best with your treatment and everything else you've got going on at the moment. I suspect that a responsible medical team would use this technology to alter treatment options, or at least discuss those options with the patient. Of course, that will involve discussing with the patient the likely prognosis per option. Not easy, but these conversations already happen. The hard part is this transiting phase we are entering, with this advance: we can detect organ failure with greater sensitivity, but we can't do anything about it (as I understand it). I trust that medical researchers will next want to investigate how this advance might improve survival/morbidity by altering interventions and management. Perhaps it will allow greater certainty regarding specific regimens, perhaps it will allow earlier detection. Transitions are hard, probably unavoidable, and I hope this one has a beneficial outcome.

RichardHeart 10y ago

"a very low price." Surely your life is worth more? If you browse this site, and can write thoughtful posts, you can probably earn more than most is my guess?

lostlogin 10y ago
I too prefer to say "I saved my life with a $10,000 epipen" rather than make the social faux pas of admitting it was a $5 generic. /s
lsh 10y ago
Americans have to pay extortionate amounts for their health care. If you have to re-mortgage your house for a few more years of life and saddle your survivors with debt that can't be paid off then it may be best to do the responsible thing and accept your fate.