Wednesday, October 21, 2015

What's the value of my 'life-time Health-record?'

I came across this interesting piece attributed to one parable from a holy man ( i was forwarded this mentioning that it is from Guru-Nanak Ji but i couldn't verify it). Let me use this precious stone to help our current tele-healthcare project and rename the original question as, "What's the value of my life-time Health-record?" I shall be careful not to sell it but just share it for its extreme relevance (particularly its bottom-line) to current research issues around electronic-health-records.

"A man went to his physician and asked "What's the value of my life-time Health-record?"
The physician gave him one stone and said, "Find out the value of this
stone, but don't sell it."

The man took the stone to an Orange Seller and asked him what its
cost would be.
The Orange Seller saw the shiny stone and said, "You can take 12
oranges and give me the stone."
The man apologized and said that the guru has asked him not to sell it.
He went ahead and found a vegetable seller. "What could be the value
of this stone?" he asked the vegetable seller.
The seller saw the shiny stone and said, "Take one sack of potatoes
and give me the stone."
The man again apologized and said he can't sell it.
Further ahead, he went into a jewelry shop and asked the value of the
stone. The jeweler saw the stone under a lens and said, "I'll give you 50 Lakhs
for this stone." When the man shook his head, the jeweler said, "Alright, alright, take 2 crores, but give me the stone." 

The man explained that he can't sell the stone.
Further ahead, the man saw a precious stone's shop and asked the seller the value of this stone.
When the precious stone's seller saw the big ruby, he lay down a red
cloth and put the ruby on it. Then he walked in circles around the ruby
and bent down and touched his head in front of the ruby. "From where
did you bring this priceless ruby from?" he asked. "Even if I sell the
whole world, and my life, I won't be able to purchase this priceless
stone.
Stunned and confused, the man returned to the physician and told him what
had happened. 

"Now tell me what is the value of my health-record?"
The physician said, "The answers you got from the Orange Seller, the Vegetable Seller, the Jeweler & the Precious Stone's Seller explain the value of your life-time health-record.
Your data may be a precious stone, even priceless, but people will value you based on their financial status, their level of information, their belief in you, their motive behind entertaining you, their ambition, and their risk taking ability. But don't fear, you will surely find someone who will discern your true value." Respect yourself. You are also Unique. No one can Replace you!

Can we think of each and every patient as a learning-for-caring project? More here:http://www.pitt.edu/~super1/lecture/lec53081/011.htm