Medical Mathematics

      I saw the term "Medical Mathematics" today in reference to our president. People are justifiably concerned with his health, especially less than 4 weeks to an election. They want some numbers with which to compare his health. These numbers have been around according to Fabrizio Bigotti since at least "the early 1600s, when a professor of medicine, Santorio Santori, helped perfect devices to measure body temperature and pulse rate." 

     The precision of our numbers today and the vast amount of literature available to analyze them with has led to a cottage industry of people making a medical diagnosis via the Internet. It's not the best method and we ought to be provided with the president's results if only to stem the conspiracy theories. This withholding of information is nothing new. Leaders of many countries have long done this so we're probably not going to know for years how the president is doing.

     What fascinates me with this term is the number of devices which will soon be relied upon to help determine our vital signs. I like wearable technology though the privacy and security of the wearable will require a lot of scrutiny. The hacking of driver-less cars is concerning but the hacking of medical devices raises my anxiety to a new peak! I'll still be testing them out though as a backup to my routine visits to the doctor. 

     The lesson from all our working from home is some human interaction can and will be replaced by automation. I am not in favor of everything being automated and in person medical care is a prime example. I am all for removing the headache of paperwork via automation from our medical professionals. This will soon be the norm as the insurance industry can't justify their inconsistency and often times incompetence for much longer. The clamor to replace outmoded practices from doctors and patients is going to be too much, not to mention the waste of time and money. I can only hope the additions to the corporate bottom line will be tempered by the realization that we are all in this thing called life together. The pandemic has also taught us that viruses do not respect gated communities or Secret Service agents willing to take a bullet. We have to steward our medical resources better in the future and automation is going to help.