Always on Health

Although questions continue to hang over the death of Michael Jackson, it came as no great surprise to learn that Michael was supported by a private, always on, medical team. 24 hours a day. A personal doctor. Always there, always ready. Ready to assess the state of his health and presumingly to revive him in the most catastrophic of events. How could such a system fail? It must be fool-proof? There must be someone to blame. That is one reaction, but another is to suggest that all systems are fallible and this is no exception. The only other conclusion I can draw is that when it is time to go it is time to go. No amount of medical care can stop that.

But how long before we all want 24 hour medical care? An always on health angel. If celebrities do anything they make us want more, and when more is impossible to achieve we look to develop technology. Technology that can be replicated, sold and distributed at a significantly lower cost to the original system. If this is true, then what technology might we expect?

Step up the humble mobile phone. Can the mobile be our always on health angel? It does not take too many leaps of the imagination to know that a mobile could quite easily monitor our body stress signals, heartbeat, and perhaps even moisture on our skin. We also know that mobiles can send and retrieve data. Governments might distrubute health warnings, moreover, our phone could alert the nearest paramedic when we are suffering from a cardiac arrest. How far might this go? According to this article from the BBC, much further. By all accounts researchers have developed an add-on to a mobile phone that can take detailed images and analyse them to diagnose diseases such as tuberculosis.

We might not want this. It might be an intrusion too far, especially if our health is updated to all our friends on facebook and twitter, but for some this might be the ultimate panacea. But, remember, when it is time to go it is time to go.

Having said all that, I am still debating as to whether I will take my iPhone to the other side. If so, I will send you a tweet when I get there!