Imagine a doctor’s appointment without the commute, or the waiting rooms with strange smells, forced to peruse magazines you would never typically pick up just to ignore your surroundings. The living room sofa, your local drugstore, or the coffee shop are the potential faces of the new waiting room. With the capabilities of telemedicine, the virtual realm has extended itself to online doctor visits, providing the high-speed pace of service we come to expect in this age. We also can miraculously find better prices on everything we need online, so why not skip the PCP, or in-store clinic, and go straight to the first available board-certified physician? The convenience and the price sound unbeatable, but there are several factors that may not make it such a perfect operation.
Several things are compromised in this situation: the patient’s security, the health care system’s security, and the welfare of the medical field. A virtual doctor is not the same as having a personalized visit, someone peering inside your ear canal, inspecting the problem. Listening to a patient’s description and trusting their words is a cheap, easy road to manipulation of the system. How much abuse does the medical system already experience? Telemedicine could create an increase in this mistreatment for personal and ultimately illegal benefit. Also, what about people who have dedicated their lives to helping people (in person)? Sure, a $45, 10-minute visit is appealing, but in the long run, you are short changing yourself and others. Doctor’s salaries have already seen significant cuts in the past few years, and this virtual “solution” could lead to hard-earned degrees, and decades of valuable medical experience going to waste.
There is little trust that can be had over any internet transaction. Though board certifications are present, these doctors are still not examining your symptoms with their own eyes and ears. Pixels and sound waves, however HD the quality, are not medical devices. As for the patient’s information, there should hopefully be a secure application process, as sometimes efficiency can take precedence over security. People may be so eager to receive quick, affordable health care that they do not realize who is collecting their information. UnitedHealth Group is surely reputable, but there is always the possibility of information selling and interception.
In short, keep doctors in business; they might still be paying back loans for med school, and have families to insure themselves. Also, help in the effort to minimize manipulation of the health care system. Many people seem to get away with lying to doctors in person, imagine the possibilities when it’s buffered by thousands of miles and an LCD screen.








