civil2

So much misleading medical marketing in the article and this thread, by the time this thread is done, he's going to have his medical license pulled. :)

Telemedicine can potentially add value in many settings, like here http://nyti.ms/1fyWXeK. What I disagree with is their misleading marketing as an alternative to 911.

For regular people, this service is like a family doctor visit on Skype. Sometimes it can be handy, but it remains to be seen how this impacts outcomes statistically. (I wouldn't use this myself.)

For healthcare facilities, like nursing homes, this is like providing a doctor on call via telemedicine. Many hospitals already do this with radiologists or neurologists for example.

What is misleading is their marketing jump from these potentially useful scenarios to advertising as an alternative to 911 for the general public, and even claiming that they are faster than 911 when in fact they are a gatekeeper to 911.

Your doctor is a gatekeeper to 911, so you have an additional gatekeeper. I think you will find that anyone in the general public experiencing an emergency is going to call 911, not your service.

Your service might be useful in non-emergencies. It's basically like a family doctor visit on Skype. There are a number of companies offering this, but it's not clear how this helps with outcomes. (For example, http://nyti.ms/1fyWXeK)

For healthcare facilities, like nursing homes, you are basically providing a doctor on call via telemedicine. That is already heavily used. Many hospitals employ radiologists, neurologists, etc who can view diagnostic images and data remotely and provide consultation to the medical staff on site.

What I think is dishonest (and could cost lives) is advertising your service to the general public as an alternative to 911, and especially claiming that it is faster than 911.

> Right now, when EMTs get to the site, they don't know anything about the patient.

This is completely not true. You really need to stop lying when advertising an emergency medical service that affects lives. Nothing personal.