askme medical questions

March 11, 2005 11:09 AM

Criminy! We need a way to flag askMe posts as: Go to a doctor, goofball!
posted by jpburns to MetaFilter-Related at 11:09 AM (16 comments total)

Since that's what many people in the thread said, why is it necessary to flag the post? Flagging is for mathowie/jessamyn-summoning; it wouldn't get advice to the poster any faster.

(Unless you mean that the thread should be deleted because the answer is plainly "see a doctor"?)
posted by kenko at 11:23 AM on March 11, 2005

The poster wrote: "As it stands, she's trying to get an appointment, and should be able to get in sometime next week but is understandbly anxious in the meantime." Seems clear enough. Obviously she needs to be a doctor but wants to hear other people's experiences in the interim. Why is this a problem?
posted by IshmaelGraves at 11:33 AM on March 11, 2005

Statement 1: You should only offer helpful answers in AskMe.

Statement 2: When you have something to say that isn't helpful in AskMe, start a MeTa thread.

These two statements are not equivalent, and only the first is accurate.
posted by anapestic at 11:42 AM on March 11, 2005

I thought the same thing when I first saw the question. But, having read the comments inside, I think its legitimate to ask others for advice.

If anything that becomes a point *against* flagging. People dont always phrase things clearly and often, after a few comments, the question gets developed so that people can answer it. If we had flags, there'd be alot of jumping the gun and not giving the asker a chance to clarify.
posted by vacapinta at 12:10 PM on March 11, 2005

The question coming from a third party left it wide open for; “go to a doctor.” Go to a doctor, goofball! flag will not work. You are telling Matt, to go to a doctor, as he reads the flags. The comments are there for you to tell the poster.
How hard are we going to make it around here that "common sense" is a new found widget on the web?
posted by thomcatspike at 12:34 PM on March 11, 2005

Arrrg!, missed kenko's comment above.
posted by thomcatspike at 12:44 PM on March 11, 2005

Er...I'm not clear on the point of the question: there should be a flagging feature so we can easily notify Matt when someone should go to the doctor? Why? Is he going to drive them himself?
posted by Bugbread at 1:05 PM on March 11, 2005

I sympathize a little with you, jpburns. There seem to be a fair number of questions with just that obvious answer, but i'm recalling that most metafilter members are living in the US, where going to the doctor (even with decent health insurance) is no light decision.

The thing is.. a strategy that seems obvious and do-able to you or me -- might not be as apparrent to the questioner.

If there is a "go to the damn doctor" tag, we might as well have a "why didn't you ask your mommy about this kind of thing while you had the chance" tag, too. (A poor joke, but it's all I've got atm.) When people don't know.. *shrug* they just don't know.
posted by reflecked at 1:13 PM on March 11, 2005

Matt drove me to the doctor last week - it's a benefit he offers to the beta testers in Mefi Pro. Didn't you get the memo bugbread?
posted by madamjujujive at 1:13 PM on March 11, 2005

I never get the memo. We need a "this guy obviously didn't get the memo" flag.
posted by Bugbread at 1:46 PM on March 11, 2005

We need a "this guy obviously didn't get the memo" flag.

We got one. Didn't you get...

This has been too long a week.
posted by anapestic at 1:50 PM on March 11, 2005

Concerning the post, I'm sorry, I should've worded it more clearly. I assumed people would realize that she HAS seen a doctor, since she got an ultrasound during a checkup. Didn't stop to think that there are places in the world where this may not be the case.

As for the question, I simply wanted to know what people thought might be going on-- information which might be important to my friend, especially as most doctors seem to be saying "Just wait it out".

I was pretty much seeking:
"Yes, this can happen" or "This has happened to me" or "This can't happen" type answers, as opposed to lots of advice (although I really do appreciate it all). My question was "Is more likely the the baby is just somehow undersized, or that the baby has died but the pregnancy has continued?" not "What should I do?!"

People telling me "She should see a doctor" was not helpful, nor was it some kind of epiphany.
posted by stray at 5:00 PM on March 11, 2005

"I simply wanted to know what people thought might be going on"

Isn't that kinda like ChatFilter?

Disclaimer: Not that I have a problem with ChatFi personally, but some around here do.
posted by mischief at 9:34 PM on March 11, 2005

Sorry if I wasn't clear.

The point I wanted to make is that I think AskMe shouldn't be used for dire medical advice (or really ANY medical advice).

Opinion is not medical treatment, and if a woman may have miscarried, the last thing she needs is the opinion of folks on MetaFilter.

IMHO, as they say.
posted by jpburns at 6:07 AM on March 12, 2005

And IMHO, someone dealing with difficult medical situations should be able to turn to any resource they see fit. It's no different than asking friends if they've had similar problems. Much like in a support group, hearing others and how they dealt with things can help a patient, or give them ideas on what to ask the doctor.

Chalk it up to differing opinions.
posted by stray at 11:27 AM on March 12, 2005

AskMe shouldn't be used for dire medical advice (or really ANY medical advice)

That's absurd. Like stray said, the net is an invaluable resource for information and emotional support to supplement the info (and, less likely, emotional support) you get during a visit to the doctor. There's no reason AskMe shouldn't be part of that.
posted by mediareport at 3:23 PM on March 13, 2005