As many may know, the fraud practices going on in the pharmaceutical / health care industry is astonishing. Billions and billions of dollars are being made out of patients, by selling addictive drugs. In no other business this is more visible then in psychiatry, where people unabashedly are being made chronically ill. There is an depression epidemic, and more and more people start and keep using addictive antidepressants. There also is an ADHD epidemic, and more and more children are taking (and sometimes being forced on) addictive drugs that work like cocaine on the brain. And untill recently unabashedly more and more children were being put on extremely harmful antipsychotics, untill finally the Senate has managed to put an end to that: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124260376459428599.html But still, the fraud going on is of enormous proportions! So for now we know one thing 100% sure: health companies surely do NOT have the best intentions for people. A company just wants to make money, it really is as simple as that. A company generally won't think about ethical factors. A pharmaceutical company gets paid for making you better, not for you being better. So the ideal situation is in which you would take drugs for the rest of your life, or at least as long as possible. And as you may have noticed in the media, those companies can't be trusted! http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/15/news/companies/eli_lilly/ So what about Google Health? Will they be trustable? And how can we know this for sure? Should we believe them on their blue Google eyes and their credo "Do No Evil"? I sure would like to, but I am afraid it can't be in this case. Pharmaceutical fraude goes very deep, and I am not sure Google is able to 'keep it clean' when so much money is involved. And Google wouldn't be the one to blaim, they would just get paid and 'like a good boy' lay their trust in the doctors and scientific publications in renowned journals (who in fact get paid / published by the industry) http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/03/21/senator_broadens_inquiry_into_psychiatrist/ It really is a big and deep fraud this health business. What do you think, could this be the potential downfall for Google in the future? Or will it choose the users over a few extra billion dollars in revenue do you think?
Btw, I don't mean google being in an 'illegal fraud', pharmaceutical money is 'legal money'. That is the biggest problem. Since recently those companies are taken on by the Government, but still most of the fraud isn't really illegal. You can't put a rule on everything, there is huge gray area of which those companies explore the outer limits. By just serving this industry in an indirect way, Google can safely earn billions of dollars in a legal way, and boost this industry further. But it may not be in the best interest of the people, and that is what I mean. Will Google choose the best interests of the people (by clearly acknowledging this fraud problem for example), or 'like a company' choose a few billion extra legal revenue that is very real and available to them via Google Health, but with it potentially (seeing the fraud problem) doing a lot of (unseen) harm to people?
Well, it's hard to say, but I don't think Google is likely to destroy their brand for a few extra dollars when they already have piles of money. I think that digital healthcare might actually help make the healthcare industry more transparent by putting patients in positions of more control and power. I use Microsoft HealthVault and like it quite a bit - I decide what's in it, I decide who can see it, and - maybe best of all - using it means I'm thinking about my health more regularly. That, all by itself, is a hugely positive step for me. We'll see what the future holds. I'm optimistic!