Rural Broadband And Telemedicine Save Stroke Victims? Lives

Broadband saves lives - at least according to a recent article in the USA Today. A two-way video and audio link - made possible by rural broadband access - saved the life of a woman experiencing a stroke.

With video access, the doctor was able to give her a much more thorough evaluation than if it was just over the phone, and decided that she should come into the hospital. At the hospital she received a drug that is most effective in the first few hours of a victim's stroke.

The USA Today article points to a major problem facing large rural stretches of the U.S.: while the nearest hospital is often many miles away, hospitals where experts can diagnose specific disorders, such as certain kinds of strokes are even rarer and may not even be in the same state.

In these situations, experts frequently use phone calls to make judgments on patients' status, but now with advances in video technology the potential exists for them to make much more thorough diagnoses as long as the appropriate broadband infrastructure is in place to support this technology.

The USA Today article mentions how "the biggest obstacle" to further adoption of telemedicine is that the programs "have yet to be proved worth their cost," and therefore many insurance companies do not cover video consultations. This is one reason why Speed Matters is pushing for universal broadband access: it has the potential to dramatically lower health care costs while increasing access.

Groups ranging from insurance companies to doctors to patients all stand to benefit as broadband brings the American health care system into the 21st Century.

Diagnosis by 'telemedicine' can save stroke victims (USA Today)

With Broadband Access, Patients In Hawaii Can Make Web Calls To Doctors (Speed Matters)

High-speed Internet allows surgeons all over world to collaborate on procedure (Speed Matters)

Save money, save lives with telemedicine (Speed Matters)