Well technology does tend to be more reliable and less prone to making mistakes when compared to a human, but when technology fails and no human is there, things can south pretty quick.

It appears the goal of the future is for humans to have no jobs, not sure what humans will do if machines are doing our jobs for us.

I did a bit of googling and BC seemed to be rather dominant.

Isn't it a bit unnecessary? You're going to see your doc anyway after tests?

If you're that interested, just get a copy from your doc.

I only go if the lab marks something as abnormal, otherwise I don't go specifically for test results.

If the lab marks something then I'll go.

I use it to save time to see if I need to see the doc...

I think that getting access to results online is usually a good thing- for example, good for keeping track on your cholesterol levels over time- we are as paperless as possible in our office so try to avoid producing paper copies if not essential. As JS has pointed out, there can be problems- minor abnormalities which we accept as variants of normal and not significant get, understandably some of our somewhat more anxious patients even more anxious! They see abnormal and it freaks them out! I think it is predominantly bloods that we get, no x-rays, ultrasounds etc -that is probably good as these can be quite complicated to interprete. As has been pointed out, only certain labs do it- patients who get their bloods done at the hospital can't get their results online- that's dumb!

Why would you want a job, if you have machines that will do everything for you?

But, yeah, I'd expect much of healthcare to be automated away in the next twenty to thirty years. Why go to a doctor to guess what's wrong with you, when a machine can run tests and tell you within a few minutes, and produce custom-tailored drugs if required?

I just don't see how we would obtain the things we need if we have no jobs to make money.

I don't want to barter and trade, if we don't work, how do we obtain the things we need?

Do you seriously believe that? I think my job is safe for a bit anyhow- along with my specialist colleagues. How would patients with mental health issues be dealt with? Much of our time is treating the worried well- those that do just what you suggest- look on line- see that the cause of abdominal pain could well be colon cancer and then panic not noticing perhaps that it could be say more likely due to constipation. Scattergun investigations are expensive and ill advised.

Experience enables us to limit these to those that we feel are necessary then do more if needs be- computer medicine is nowhere this sophisticated. We know our patients- ER doc do a great job and I respect them but they do tend to scattergun investigations sometimes to the detriment of patients- unnecessarily irradiating patients with CT scans etc
Do you honestly believe that examining patients is not valuable? If only our jobs were as simple as you make them out to be!

I don't think a machine could ever replace a doctor in regards to mental health, can't see anyway where a machine could do it.

Not sure how a machine would do a physical exam either to look for a lump or abnormality.

No idea why they go to med school/post graduate education for so long if all they do is guess....

To be clear for you. My post was an expression of my own personal opinion which comes from a lifetime of quite serious eyesight problems through no fault of my own, so it is a subject close to my heart.

I am entitled & free to post about this as I see it, just as you are. Just because you may not agree with me, does not mean you need to become defensive and suggest it was some sort of attack when it was not. As you have read, I can state exactly the consultancy procedures with my eyes shut ( pun intended). Sad but true.

To me it is simple. Eyesight & eyeballs first and promptly at all times.
Just check me peepers out ; lodge on the records ; give me any treatment pronto ; follow up and check-ups.

You want to play it differently , entirely up to you.

I have to say, one person who probably would have been alive today if he had used the machine rather than a doctor was Michael Jackson! Well..... Ok maybe not - it was probably going to happen sometime....I was looking for a moonwalking emoji but there wasnt one

+1

I've no idea what scilly said because she's on my ignore list (a very short one I may add), but I'm also someone who has recently had eye issues. Someone therefore who knows that messing about through ignorance or negligence is to be avoided.

The same way our ancestors did for most of the life of the human race. Jobs, in the modern sense, are a creation of the industrial era, and that's almost over.

Manufacturing is going to become local again. A few centuries ago, people could make most of the things they used within a few miles of where they lived. Before long, machines will be able to make most of the things we use within a few miles of where we live.

Then you'll only need to be able to obtain raw materials, and designs for things made from those raw materials, if you don't design them yourself. After a brief fad of industrial life, we're heading back to a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, just on a much higher technological level than before. A couple of hundred years from now, you'll gather an asteroid, grind it up, stuff it in a machine, and wait for whatever you want to come out the other end.

Yes, it is. But we're not far from the point where a machine can do it faster, much more reliably, and at a much lower cost.

Oh please point me towards validated evidence on that, I'm intrigued