MEG…GET ME THAT TEST!
More than just the elderly are concerned about what kind of healthcare they will get when they move to Palm Coast. And now on TV we are seeing all kinds of goodies most people can’t get anywhere. MEG tests for example.
I have been treated for heart conditions since I was in college. Didn’t pay much attention to retirement plans. Felt my lifespan would be rather short. Burned the candle at both ends. Had a great life. Surprise! At 73 I am still here. Oh shit. Ran out of money!
And my closest medical "connection" to help me with personal influence on our medical establishment is a dentist in Warren, PA.
But there’s some great new stuff hiding in the bushes, waiting for the rich and well connected. Like MEG testing.
Here are a few snippits about MEG Testing:
Definition: "Magnetoencephalography (MEG) is a rare, complex neuroimaging technique that allows scientists a unique view of the dynamic, interactive brain. There are only a few research centers in the world that have the expertise and capital to incorporate this advanced level of technology into their brain studies."
Applications: "MEG provides scientists a vital neuroimaging tool to gain critical perspectives into the basic mechanisms of the cognitive processes of the healthy, functioning brain in the same lightning speed at which the brain itself operates."
"MEG studies also allow researchers valuable insights into the dysfunctional brain with respect to neurological disorders and diseases such as: schizophrenia, stroke, mental retardation, dyslexia and Alzheimer’s disease through measuring these changes in the brain’s electro-magnetic fields."
"…researchers can now localize brain activity and measure it in the same temporal dimension as the functioning brain itself. This allows investigators to measure, in real-time, the integration and activity of neuronal populations while either working on a task, or at rest. The brains of healthy subjects and those suffering from dysfunction or disease are imaged and analyzed in these MEG studies.."
History: "This ever-evolving technology began as a single-channel system in the 1970s. Since then, MEG technology has been constantly updated and refined into its current state-of-the-art status. The MEG instrument at the Brain Sciences Center, is one of the few of its caliber in existence. Its 248 SQUID sensors make this imaging machine one of the most powerful and technologically advanced in the world."
I saw something about MEG on a news snippet and googled it. Here is the link to the above quotes
http://www.brain.umn.edu/research/MEG.htm
This blog got too long as I ranted about how revising healthcare should prioitize a major speedup of government funding and proliferating new technology like MEG testing in order to get it quickly into large, regional hospitals all over the country. We need to make new, high tech treatments/studies available to many thousands of us 'just folks' (no money, not well connected). We need to produce a negative incentive for doctors and their particular hospitals so they do not make their own fame and fortune a major criteria in patient selection. We need a practical and just patient selection criteria for advanced medical studies/treatments and we need transparency and public input.
Tell The Tea Party!
And if you want to hear my personal history (ugly) using Cardiologists and hospitals in the Palm Coast area. And my experience getting a heart valve replaced at the Cleveland Clinic, drop me a comment. Boy, do I have opinions! Send me a comment from this blog and we can dialog.
TALK TO TED !
