Wednesday, July 07, 2004
Calling All Hypochondriacs!!
Harvard now has a disease risk evaluator on its website. It makes me sad when otherwise respectable institutions engage in this kind of DOQRAPS. Similar to the half-baked BMI calculations and assessments I mentioned earlier, this is not a diagnostic tool but, at best, a marketing campaign (although for what I'm not sure).
Yes, maybe one person will go to his or her doctor and find a real problem, but with that one there will be hundreds who go and spend unnecessary time and money and doctors' resources. A simple informative quiz would be better: 'which of the following things is good for reducing X risk?' followed by explanations of responses. It'll still send some people to their doctors, but fewer, and also they'll have some good information even if they don't go.
Yes, maybe one person will go to his or her doctor and find a real problem, but with that one there will be hundreds who go and spend unnecessary time and money and doctors' resources. A simple informative quiz would be better: 'which of the following things is good for reducing X risk?' followed by explanations of responses. It'll still send some people to their doctors, but fewer, and also they'll have some good information even if they don't go.
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