The Anonymous Widower

Computers Beat Doctors at Diagnosing Child Illnesses

This was a headline in The Independent.

A computer has proved more accurate in diagnosing severe fever in children than doctors using their clinical judgement, researchers have found.

Is it the way medicine is going, as it looks like the computer system is better in this case? There’s no reason to believe that in certain areas, this may well be possible.

As a coeliac and a computer person, I’ve always felt that the diagnosis of coeliac disease could be done by means of a simple on-line system, that gave an indication that could be confirmed by proper tests.  This is because coeliac disease shows itself in many and diverse ways.  I had chronic dandruff for a start and would you see a gastroenterologist for that?

I think too, you have to look at the statistics of medicine and especially GPs.  My granddaughter was born with a congenital hernia of the diaphragm.  She’s fine now and just like any other eight-year-old.  Now this problem occurs in about one in 3,000 babies. When I told my GP about my granddaughter, she said she’d never come across one in general practice.

So perhaps the computer can be much better with rare complaints.

April 22, 2010 - Posted by AnonW | Computing, Health | Coeliac/Gluten-Free