What is Digg?Sponsored by Dragon Age: Origins
See the new YouTube feature trailer for Dragon Age: Origins view!
youtube.com/DragonAge - EA presents BioWare's new dark fantasy epic Dragon Age: Origins. '9/10' from Game Informer.
129 Comments
- thayanmarsh, on 01/29/2009, -7/+128Wow, guess the doc is a quick learner. But its kind of sad that he had to learn about it from CNN and not, I don't know, a medical journal maybe?
- Speed, on 01/30/2009, -3/+72I feel bad for the guy who underwent the surgery... I don't think the last thing you wanna hear before you go under is "hey, I just read about this procedure on CNN... lets try it on this kid!"
- UnFriendlyFire, on 01/30/2009, -2/+69Hi, everybody, call me, Dr. Nick at 1-800-DOCTORB. I do any operation for just 199.95
- MrAxehandle, on 01/30/2009, -1/+59News items have much shorter incubation times than medical journal articles, which can be the product of a year's work and require peer review. In three years we'll see this guy as one of 8 contributors to an article evaluating this CO laser's effectiveness on brain tumors.
- DangerMouse9, on 01/29/2009, -4/+51It must be nice to have the time to read every single bit of information about your field and still have the time to raise 4 kids and save countless lives.
- ripter, on 01/30/2009, -1/+42The B stands for bargain!
- r1y23, on 01/30/2009, -0/+35He must have been staying at a Holiday Inn Express when he saw it.
- fuzzynyanko, on 01/30/2009, -0/+34It's better than "you have to undergo radiation treatment"
- moose26, on 01/30/2009, -1/+32Regardless of him learning it from CNN, he put that knowledge to good use. Often enough it's the mainstream media, word of mouth and other social type news sharing outlets that can pass along a very new idea.
I am glad he was able to learn from the article and eventually get the tool to help the teen out... and if he got that info from CNN, or even .. dare I say.. FOX... who cares.. it helped SAVE a life.
That is frekking FTW - adiggityam, on 01/30/2009, -2/+29You give me cash money I laser you eyeball
- woog315, on 01/30/2009, -0/+26Well, it's not like he learned how to do the procedure from CNN, he just learned of it's existence then contacted the proper professionals for more information...
- FlareHeart, on 01/30/2009, -1/+25Considering the length of time that it takes anything to get published in a medical journal, I am glad that he saw the news article on CNN and didn't have to wait for the medical journal to publish something a year later about it. This article in conjunction with the quick actions of the doctor to get one of those lasers, just saved that child's life (most likely anyway since he probably wouldn't have survived too much longer with that large of a tumor in his brain).
- smoger, on 01/30/2009, -2/+25Hellllo everybody!
- MaximusIGN, on 01/30/2009, -5/+27>>>>"I am inclined to believe that it is the work of God that I came across your article that very night," the surgeon told CNN.
>>>>"As I do every night, I read CNN online and immediately saw on the front page that there was an article in the health section entitled, From military device to life-saving surgical tool. ... Read the original CNN.com story
So every night he watches CNN, but this is work of God that night....uh ok. - lukeruls, on 01/30/2009, -0/+18I got these gloves with my toilet brush!
- radu79, on 01/30/2009, -2/+18You know, after reading this story (amazing story, btw), I came to the comments page, just thinking: "Here is a story that can't have any political bias whatsoever, the comments must be pretty boring."
I guess I was wrong :) - burketo, on 01/30/2009, -0/+15wait now, this isn't a magic wand that instantly brings medicine lightyears forward, it's a flexible laser that just happens to fit the exact predicimant that this doctor (or rather this patient) was having. let's get this in perspective! you can't seriously expect the news to reverberate around the world every time a new medical device comes out.
- jayrok, on 01/30/2009, -0/+15Dr. Gupta, eat your heart out.
- gumballer, on 01/30/2009, -0/+15Inflammable means flammable? What a country!
- serif69, on 01/30/2009, -1/+15Hi Doctor Nick
- EmberToInferno, on 01/30/2009, -5/+19Wow. What's scary about this to me is that cutting edge (no pun intended) medical technology isn't widely known by the doctors who could use it to benefit patients. I don't blame the doctor in the article. It just illustrates how decentralized the medical community is in adopting new methods. Seems like this should have been blasted out by JAMA and/or other medical associations way ahead of CNN reporting it!
- 10lbhammer, on 01/30/2009, -0/+13heeey, did you go to hollywood upstairs medical college too?
- CedEx, on 01/30/2009, -0/+12Dude... the device has only been available for 3 months. It takes time for such things to roll through the medical journals.
- ultraseamus, on 01/30/2009, -3/+15@twertyto: It has been awhile since someone mustered up the courage to come right out and say that brain surgery is easy. What is your opinion on rocket science?
- mytealjacket, on 01/30/2009, -1/+12Had you heard of this tool?
- ChronicColonic, on 01/30/2009, -1/+10At least he didn't get the information from the Home Depot website...
You can do it, we can help. - inactive, on 01/30/2009, -0/+9Is that a new procedure?
- wolfing, on 01/30/2009, -0/+9or it could have appeared 2 weeks before and the kid wouldn't have had to go through the procedure twice.
- omgwhataguy, on 01/30/2009, -4/+13He must have stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night.
- fuzzynyanko, on 01/30/2009, -3/+11He had help from OmniGuide, and I think it was that company's best interest to send someone over to help the doctor with the tool. Since it made the front page of Digg, that company just got a lot of publicity
- DangerMouse9, on 01/30/2009, -0/+8Whoa boy! The stories I could tell about that. Let's just say it's a good thing there are good Samaritan laws that protect me from lawsuits due to my failed attempts.
- aschwartz, on 01/30/2009, -1/+9you want gills? Tell you what, I take your lungs, and you come back and I install gills.
Well, I always wanted to breathe under water. - tonberryqueen, on 01/30/2009, -0/+8Saying he thinks that God intended him to find that article doesn't exactly mean that the guy's a religious nut. Most doctors you find are probably going to profess to believe in some sort of deity, since theists make up a large portion of the world's population.
Just saying. I'm an atheist, and I really don't give a ***** what my doctors believe in as long as they give me the medical care I want. Ob/gyns are probably the only doctors where religious beliefs will really clash with your care needs. - adml_shake, on 01/30/2009, -1/+8I agree with the other guys quesiton, as an up and coming surgen you should know each and every single tool and treatment available to you. Wow, thats gonna be kinda hard to sleep between working and reading every single medical jorunal available.
- CedEx, on 01/30/2009, -0/+7In fairness, the company did send a qualified and trained physician to assist in using the device during the operation. The article fails to mention this, but I highly doubt that this neurosurgeon did 100% of the surgery alone.
A logical assumption is that the neurosurgeon had some training by the supplied doctor outside of the surgery, and then when in the surgery had the chance to test out the tool in the middle of the tumour where errors don't result in good tissue being burned. Once he got the hang of it, he could have continued, or he could have just directed the supplied physian to make cuts in specific locations around the tumour.
Besides, teratomas have well defined borders that distinguish between tumor and good tissue, so it is really easy to tell the good stuff from bad. - wolfing, on 01/30/2009, -0/+7the way medical journals work, if that device came 3 months ago, the journals will have an article about it in about 2 years
- trollick, on 01/30/2009, -2/+9*****, I really hope my surgeon keeps his skills up-to-date by reading actual medical publications and does not rely on CNN or God.
- tetroidBurke, on 01/30/2009, -0/+6To become a neurosurgeon in the U.S., you generally have to go through 4 years of undergrad/pre-med, then 4 years of medical school, and then 7 years of neurosurgery residency. That means you will be around 33 years old before you can perform neurosurgeon.
Chances are, he probably gets some type of medical journal or neurosurgery magazine sent to his house. But let's be realistic here. Neurosurgeons, and doctors in general, work abnormally long hours, and the work is very intensive. There just aren't that many hours in the day to be reading various sources of information while taking care of the kids, eating food, and getting an adequate amount of sleep. AND it looks like he's doing some teaching at med school on top of all of that. - KibblesnBitts, on 01/30/2009, -0/+6You performed major operations with a knife and fork from a seafood restaurant
But I cleaned them with my napkin - radu79, on 01/30/2009, -0/+6And I am sure the technician they sent helped a little as well :)
- djfonz, on 01/30/2009, -0/+6Well if it isn't my good friend Mr. McGreg, with a leg for an arm and an arm for a leg!
- mwalker05, on 01/30/2009, -0/+5if doctors never practiced new techniques on willing patients, how would they learn them to begin with?
- sbassoli, on 01/30/2009, -1/+6Buried because I can't get this headline in t-shirt form.
- AndrewLeon, on 01/30/2009, -0/+5Oh Interwebs.... I <3 you
- inactive, on 01/30/2009, -0/+5take that mainstream media! oh wait...
- VSKBadCRC, on 01/31/2009, -0/+4It's better than, ". . .but I did sleep in a Holiday Inn Express last night."
- AmnesiacJack, on 01/30/2009, -2/+6It's OK the Doctor stayed at a Holiday Inn the night before.
- 0ceanic, on 01/30/2009, -0/+4personally i believe it had more to do with a cutting edge surgical instrument *snicker* than learning how to do the procedure.
med tech is growing really really fast. this is one of my favorite sites for medical tech
http://www.medgadget.com/ - lordjeebus, on 01/30/2009, -1/+5Dude, how much medical school have you had? If you spent one week on a surgery rotation you'd see that there are new devices all over the place and most of them don't have any significant data published that would get into a major journal. If you tried to stay current on every un-published new device out there, you'd never have time to use any of them. If the device isn't standard of care (and it rarely is), it is extreme to fault the surgeon for not knowing about it.
- adikt, on 01/30/2009, -0/+4FTA: "Seventy-two hours later I held the device in my hands," Ellis explained. "Omni Guide sent someone to do a demo. I was extremely impressed and excited and very quickly I pretty much got the hang of it."
Kids mother: "So, Doctor, you're proficient in the use of this tool and the procedure lined up for my son?"
Doc: "No, but I pretty much got the hang of it."
That, and "Nice *****." from the guy at the urinal next to you, are 2 things you NEVER want to hear. -
Show 51 - 100 of 132 discussions
The Digg Toolbar for Firefox lets you Digg, submit content, and keep track of Digg even when you're not on the Digg site. Download the official 
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is