The World in 2030
The World in 2030 The World in 2030
The World in 2030 293 Even today the internet has given the inquiring patient instant access to a large body of medical information previously available only to doctors. While making the important caveat that information on the internet is not to be trusted automatically, and with the important observation that the interpretation of medical information may be impossible without medical training, it is now clear that the internet is empowering non-medics to the point that many doctors are intimidated by patients who arrive in their surgeries with internet print-outs under their arm. With common sense and caution it is now possible for a patient to review the world’s literature about specific drugs or treatments, it is possible to instantly link up with others who suffer, for example, from breast cancer, sarcoidosis or tennis elbow. Specific treatments (and specific doctors and specific hospitals) can be discussed and compared with thousands of fellow patients both locally and all around the world. It is no longer possible for a doctor to assume that he or she has exclusive access to medical knowledge and to the experiences of others suffering a common ailment. The inquiring patient has suddenly and comprehensively been empowered (and has been given important new sources of support). My own general practitioner is particularly internet-savvy and he is unashamed to Google for medical information while I am sitting in his office, even going so far as to guide me to websites which offer the most trustworthy medical information. He and I have formed a partnership; I do my best to remain healthy, he does his best to support me. Medicine is changing rapidly and, despite prevailing medical
294 The World in 2030 attitudes that wish to ‘pathologise’ every condition (identify a category or syndrome to which a condition can belong before delivering treatment), new technology, new drugs, new diagnostic tools and new therapies will turn medicine into a science focused on ‘prevent and extend’. Monitoring our Health As inexpensive technology makes it possible for us to take more responsibility for maintaining our own health we will start to monitor our body’s real-time performance, even when we are not ill. Such monitoring will include self-administered regular checks of blood pressure, blood-glucose level and cholesterol level. Today such home checks are carried out using off-the-shelf test kits and blood-pressure machines. Soon we will be wearing technology that monitors our health for us and which communicates via the ‘super-web’ to store medical data in case any retrospective analysis is needed in the future. In the slightly longer-term technology worn on our bodies will automatically call for assistance and will even administer emergency treatments if we suffer a heart attack, stroke or other serious and life-threatening ailment. These are not new ideas. In 1986 I set up a company in the UK to design, develop and manufacture wrist watches which would also act as health monitors (a business intended to be a complimentary sideline to my writing and futurology). I imagined stylish timepieces that could check the wearer’s blood pressure, test the levels of glucose and insulin in the body (from perspiration
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294 <strong>The</strong> <strong>World</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>2030</strong><br />
attitudes that wish to ‘pathologise’ every condition (identify<br />
a category or syndrome to which a condition can belong<br />
before deliver<strong>in</strong>g treatment), new technology, new drugs,<br />
new diagnostic tools and new therapies will turn medic<strong>in</strong>e<br />
<strong>in</strong>to a science focused on ‘prevent and extend’.<br />
Monitor<strong>in</strong>g our Health<br />
As <strong>in</strong>expensive technology makes it possible for us to take<br />
more responsibility for ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g our own health we will<br />
start to monitor our body’s real-time performance, even when<br />
we are not ill. Such monitor<strong>in</strong>g will <strong>in</strong>clude self-adm<strong>in</strong>istered<br />
regular checks of blood pressure, blood-glucose level and<br />
cholesterol level. Today such home checks are carried out<br />
us<strong>in</strong>g off-the-shelf test kits and blood-pressure mach<strong>in</strong>es.<br />
Soon we will be wear<strong>in</strong>g technology that monitors our health<br />
for us and which communicates via the ‘super-web’ to store<br />
medical data <strong>in</strong> case any retrospective analysis is needed <strong>in</strong><br />
the future. In the slightly longer-term technology worn on<br />
our bodies will automatically call for assistance and will even<br />
adm<strong>in</strong>ister emergency treatments if we suffer a heart attack,<br />
stroke or other serious and life-threaten<strong>in</strong>g ailment. <strong>The</strong>se<br />
are not new ideas.<br />
In 1986 I set up a company <strong>in</strong> the UK to design, develop<br />
and manufacture wrist watches which would also act as<br />
health monitors (a bus<strong>in</strong>ess <strong>in</strong>tended to be a complimentary<br />
sidel<strong>in</strong>e to my writ<strong>in</strong>g and futurology). I imag<strong>in</strong>ed stylish<br />
timepieces that could check the wearer’s blood pressure, test<br />
the levels of glucose and <strong>in</strong>sul<strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong> the body (from perspiration