The slowing of technology by the medical-industrial complex
How I practice medicine has changed for the better because of technology.
In the future I foresee no pandemics, cancer becoming a diagnosis of the past, and much of our body readapted bionically with life expectancy increasing easily over one hundred.
Some of this sounds far away, yet we are within decades of much of this coming to fruition. But can technologic advances be dampened by greed? I have already seen this happen.
Growing up in Los Angeles, I used to ride the Red Car. Yes, hard to believe the city had historically the largest electric railway system in the world! What happened to it?
Rumor has it, tire manufacturers in cahoots with the auto industry wanted expansion of the freeway system which eventually happened, enhancing their profits and shelving the Red Car in 1961.
Los Angeles and surrounding communities now suffer from road congestion, pollution, time delays, and fuel consumption, while LA Metro plays catch-up in attempting to develop public transportation. Past rumors could be true.
Medically, might there be technology that is being shelved to the detriment of patients? Really? Do you mean there could be greed in the medical field lurking out there?
I suffer from hip arthritis. Stem cell research is still in its infancy, but even now we are able to duplicate joint synovial fluid in the laboratory so in the future I can inject it providing a cushion for my arthritis.
Could the medical-industrial complex not let this happen and shelve this technology?
Joint replacement, especially of the hip and knee, are big money makers for hospitals, doctors, rehab facilities, and those making implants of metal, ceramics, and plastic joints. This equates to billions of dollars which they will not relinquish, especially if limitless synovial fluid can be made from a stem cell requiring a simple injection.
So my question is, how much advancement can be made medically if greed holds us back? Instead of a few decades, will advances be prolonged to the next century resulting in a slowdown in improving our quality of life?
It comes down to the public recognizing greed inherent in society and the nature of human beings, and then doing something about it.
Preventing pandemics, cancer, and improving quality of life should be preserved for the upcoming generation of children and grandchildren.
Therefore, we must ensure every effort is made to put greed on the shelf.
Gene Dorio, M.D.
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I think a fair amount of profit could be made from injecting, synovial fluid and using stem cells to rebuild joints. I’m not as negative about the profit model in medicine as are some.. I think it’s done an amazing job of building your medical expertise. Without the profit motive in medicine, we would not have developed life-saving drugs, and in fact we would’ve never developed the joint replacement procedures that have been so effective. I myself have an artificial hip and without it I probably would be on crutches no matter what you injected into my hip. I had a stress fracture of the top of the ball of the hip after excessive running for a couple of weeks , the ball just collapsed and that never would’ve been fixable with any kind of injections at least not by current technology so I’m very grateful for the ability to replace joints. I would be even more grateful for the ability to re-grow them.
As far as anti-aging goes, it’s just around the corner. There are currently several drugs that are effective antiaging drugs, including metformin and rapamycin. Taurine supplements probably have an anti-aging affect. We now know that aging is a genetically programmed process that can be speed it up and slow down. There are organisms on this planet, that simply don’t age, and if it weren’t for disease, trauma and predators, they would never die. They are programmed differently, but otherwise not much different than we are. It is now within our grasp, knowing the entire human genome, and the genomes of most of these other animals, to figure out how to change that program. Is that a good idea? Well, it would certainly be nice to have geniuses like Einstein and da Vinci still around doing their magic. And everybody would want to live longer so that they can see other great great grandchildren screw up their lives the way we did.
Thanks Gene. A big one for me was when Gilead marketed Harvoni. It was great to be able to cure Hep C finally. But once the masses were cured, Gilead lost its source of income, their shares tanked, and Gilead was considered “dead money.” The moral of the story for pharmaceutical companies: “Never market anything that is a cure.” I made a video of this several years ago, with the executives of pharmaceutical companies saying that they would never produce and market “cures” as this ruins the company for profits. Now, they sell drugs that have to be taken for life, and never “cure.” “A cure for the patient is death to the company profits.” So, you have medications for life in the form of blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, arthritis, etc., all good for years of profits. No promotion of things like Stem cell Islet cell implants, because that could cure the patients, but be the death of the company. Sad!
Hi Gene,
I agree! I have arthritis in both hips and have been putting off THR surgery for 10 years. I am hopeful that an alternative to surgery will be available soon.
Sharon
p.s. please let me know as soon as this becomes a possibility