Interesting Links for 07-07-2014

[andrewducker]

• I agree with Robert Peston about how important financial matters are to Scottish Independence
  (tags: Scotland independence economics )
• Cash no longer accepted on London buses as of today
  (tags: buses transport London money )
• On a scale of Luke Skywalker to Jaime Lannister...
  (tags: gameofthrones starwars funny )
• Uncharged phones, laptops to be banned on US-bound flights
  (tags: security security_theatre USA terrorism usa airplanes )
• KGoal: introducing the fitness tracker for your vagina
  (tags: vagina exercise women technology viaSteer )
• Do doctors understand test results? (Lack of maths skills)
  (tags: maths statistics doctors medicine )

Comments

[vanessagalore]

Regarding doctors and statistics, I think the article gives doctors too much credit. In my experience, they actively use scary sounding statistics to try to pressure patients into overtesting and overtreating, which results in enhanced income for the practice and protects the doctor from malpractice suits. It's an epidemic over here, and you are labeled a difficult patient if you dare to question their recommendation. (I have quite a few letters in my file about my recalcitrance.) It is very hard to find a doctor who will discuss these statistics rationally and really examine benefit versus risk. Radiologists are the absolute worst.

I hesitated to comment knowing what you are dealing with, but my personal experience has been really miserable with doctors and the profit motive here in the U.S. has really skewed our medical care to the point that we're going to bankrupt ourselves with all this. (And still, we can't possibly consider single payer!) I've mostly found good doctors, although they actually aren't covered under my shiny new Obamacare plan so my health costs are pretty much astronomical.

[andrewducker]

This is talking largely about British Doctors, who aren't driven in the same way, thank goodness!