| Here's a recent anecdote: A few months back I got a stomach ulcer and before going to the doctor, I decided to do some research. I came to realize that the primary cause is not stress or excess spicy food, but a particular stomach bacteria, H. Pylori, going rogue and attacking the mucus lining of the stomach that protects underlying tissue from the strong acid [1]. For this discovery, Drs. Marshall and Warren were awarded the 2005 Nobel prize in medicine [2], as it meant that ulcers were curable with the use of suitable antibiotics. However, my doctor (and good friend) insisted that there was no permanent cure for stomach ulcers and they could only be managed by taking acid reducing medication (Prilosec) everyday for as long as I lived. I couldn't help wondering if his information was corrupted by big pharma, who always want to keep you hooked onto some drug or the other. So, I had to use extra persuasion and tact to get him to prescribe antibiotics for H. Pylori elimination (and thus permanently curing the ulcer). I'm a bit skeptical that big pharma's tentacles will NOT reach Watson's doctor successors [3]. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peptic_ulcer#History [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nobel_laureates_in_Phys... [3] http://www-03.ibm.com/innovation/us/watson/watson_in_healthc... |