But doctor I did everything why doesn’t it help?!
Early morning in clinic and mom walks in with severely disabled 3-year-old child in a wheel chair.
She says “I did everything I was told to do: I prayed, with candles, dressed in a better manner but nothing helps the child. He has severe spasticity is very irritable and doesn’t speak or walk!” I asked gently and what about genetic consultation? She asked: “but how is this connected?”
Please don’t be judgmental and patronizing this Mom was an intelligent person. The child was being by doctors but no one referred her for genetic consultation. The child was tested for a genetic disordered that was suspected. Mom just gave birth to a healthy infant. She is not happy and more lenient with religious restrictions. This is another case of under treatment too under-serviced population. The story demonstrates 2 main issues that could be solved by providing medical care online:
Increasing awareness to genetic causes.
There has been a genetic revolution in the past couple of years. While the public hears about the progress in this field, it is not aware of its practical implications. There should be translation from the academic achievements to the practical accessible implications. We recently translated our professional paper about genetics in CP to a questionnaire for parents to find out if they need any further genetic consultation. If this Mom would have used the questionnaire she would realize that the best way to help her child and future children is in the genetic field.
Accessible specialist consultation
This family lived in a remote area with limited access to specialist care. As it is extremely difficult to provide subspecialist in rural areas telemedicine can bridge this gap. Accessible online specialists can provide tele-consultation detecting issues that have been overlooked by previous doctors. Providing better care to underserviced populations and saving the medical system cost of future legal charges.