Comments on: Really public health

By: » Final Guide to Google Health : 60+ Tips and Resources » Social Networking Blog - SociableBlog.com

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:17:38 +0000

[...] Check out news about your conditions: As new developments come out, you’ll be able to get updates on treatments and other helpful information for your conditions. [...]

By: NursingDegree.net » The Ultimate Guide to Google Health: 60+ Tips and Resources

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 14:51:38 +0000

[...] Check out news about your conditions: As new developments come out, you’ll be able to get updates on treatments and other helpful information for your conditions. [...]

By: Pran

Pran — Mon, 26 May 2008 00:51:27 +0000

The idea behind a common repository for each person’s health details makes a lot of sense. I agree with your comment that talking openly about health issues can have a lot of positive effects.

As regards Google Health — Microsoft and others want to provide the same service. It becomes a lot like social networks. How many networks does one join?

By: Iris Evans

Iris Evans — Thu, 22 May 2008 18:01:59 +0000

Hi Jeff,

Tell me about universal insurance. I am desperately trying to get medical travel insurance for my husband to go to the States this summer and finding it impossible to get cover for his atrial fibrilation which began in January this year.

By: Jeff Jarvis

Jeff Jarvis — Thu, 22 May 2008 13:05:58 +0000

Uh, cooler, I said that; it’s precisely my point: With universal insurance no one need worry bout that.

By: Cooler Heads

Cooler Heads — Thu, 22 May 2008 12:43:38 +0000

You are kidding. Ever heard of preexisting conditions?

I’d talk about my health issues, but only if my insurers can’t deny me coverage or increase my rates if I do.

By: Google Health : Tree of Knowledge

Google Health : Tree of Knowledge — Wed, 21 May 2008 15:22:56 +0000

[...] looks like Google is already moving in this direction as Jeff Jarvis has noted it also provides: news about each of my [...]

By: Dan Thornton

Dan Thornton — Wed, 21 May 2008 11:01:16 +0000

In an era when the National Health Service in the UK has a bad habit of accidentally losing 1000s of confidential records in public places, and employers investigate health records as much as they can, there really isn’t much to fear about openness.

About non stigma conditions, anyway. As said above, mental illness is still very much misunderstood, particularly by the general public who perceive themselves as unaffected.

And then there are further issues like HIV, Aids etc.

As for insurance, if all my data is linked, will a heart attack lead to the insurance company listing every time I Twittered about a cheeseburger? Or about smoking a cigarette? It sounds comical, but in a non-engaged company, this is probably the type of idea that will be their first thought about Google Health.

Personally I’m a huge advocate of national health services, although I have to admit , under investment and under resourcing has forced me to take out additional insurance. So I wouldn’t worry about health cover. But I sincerely doubt that any effective legislation will ever be enacted and enforced enough to stop individuals who are open about their health from being penalised.

By: Alison

Alison — Wed, 21 May 2008 09:00:36 +0000

You’re right. There are potential benefits for health care if people talk about their conditions. Others can recognise symptoms earlier, talk with doctors more knowledgeably and with less fear about their treatment and prognosis. But there’s a sliding scale of what people feel it’s ’safe’ to admit to. Without wanting trivialise, atrial fibrillation and other heart complaints have quite a respectable profile. Other disease classes, such as cancer and even Aids (in some circles) have gradually shed their mantle of secrecy.
But try mental health - that’s a different matter. I recently worked on a project in which I talked with psychiatrists working in the UK NHS. Psychiatry is not a glamorous specialism, and many of the consultants I talked to could, quite deservedly, be described as heroic. A common theme emerged (unfortunately not really relevant to the project as whole) and that was how much the public mis-understand mental health conditions, partly because they are rarely talked about in any sort of positive way in the media. We hear, for example, of people’s battle’s against cancer, but not their struggles with mental health. There are some exceptions: Stephen Fry has done much to de-mystify depression, Terry Pratchett is now talking about his experience of Alzheimers disease, but imo addiction is treated more as a crime than an illness and schizophrenia and psychoses (which can be managed with the right care and support) are rarely mentioned, and certainly almost never positively.
So there’s much to be done in removing stigma, and legislation may help, but in the meantime the media can also do something about it.