Thursday, November 10, 2011

Computer ‘Pathologist’ Could Help Assess Breast Cancer Survival | StrongerThanCancer


Computer ‘Pathologist’ Could Help Assess Breast Cancer Survival | StrongerThanCancer

An interesting development, but I worry that too much emphasis is put on computers, and treatments will be prescribed - maybe even dictated - to the patient based on statistics and numbers. There is a lot that goes into surviving cancer. Information is important, but it needs to be kept in context as a tool for the patient to decide what is best for him/her (yes, some men get breast cancer).

My triple negative diagnosis put me in the category that would require the most aggressive treatment - it took a lot to decide to take a less toxic path. With computer data added to the doctors opinion... it may not be long before they don't allow you the choice to determine your own path to survival.

Maybe I'm stretching here, but we need to be careful. As it is insurance companies can deny us coverage if we have a pre-existing condition and a lapse in our coverage. The more people rely on computers to make decisions for them, the less personal our healthcare will be.

....all of that said, it IS a pretty cool tool though :)

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