Ask HN: Evaluate my startup idea: Q&A website for solving health problems

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2401790

by moonwalk617 • 15 years ago

5 10 15 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

The idea of this website is to help people solve their personal health problems through the form of question and answer to a community of people.

People will ask questions about a disease or symptom they have; someone who has the same health problem can share their experience on how they mitigated or cured it.

I want to know if you think this offers enough value for people, or is a bad idea that will result in fail. Please explain your reasoning.

masterzora• 15 years ago

I can't really offer an opinion of success/failure, but the idea makes me highly uncomfortable. As is, self-misdiagnosis is high, with untrained people flocking towards "popular"/well-known diseases that "kind of fits" their symptoms, or finding out about a disease they hadn't previously known about that sounds "just like" what they have, or just chasing zebras. With a community encouraging and amplifying this effect... I'm slightly terrified.

xekul• 15 years ago

I agree. I can imagine this website breeding communities of hypochondriacs.

ecommando• 15 years ago

It's called WebMD.com.

solipsist• 15 years ago

Don't forget that IBM's Watson is bound to enter this exact market.

petervandijck• 15 years ago

Good idea, very high value, but VERY difficult to make sure you get high quality answers.

triviatise• 15 years ago

Try doing a search for health forum. Here is one example

http://www.healthboards.com/boards/forumdisplay.php?f=58

It doesnt mean it cant be a startup, but things like it do exist. If you make something you will need to create a spin.

I thought webmd did this but the discussions are buried many layers deep.

veyron• 15 years ago

This is particularly dangerous, and I really worry about health sites in general, because if people trust the advice too much, they may not choose to go to doctor (rising health care costs, no insurance, ...) in lieu of listening to advice from the site. Then, when a severe case breaks out, people will spend weeks trying others' recommendations rather than getting a real diagnosis

Not to be a Debbie downer, but Im curious as to how you could indicate when a symptom is serious enough to warrant real help. Unless you try a Quora style system (only allowing doctor rs to respond)

Yana_Convelife• 15 years ago

I thought about doing this, but had some other projects. I disagree with the comments below. This is an excellent idea, if you can execute it well.

Existing websites that are open to the public (as opposed to answered by a medical practitioner) are full of spam. So you would need to monitor it carefully.

But I don't think that there is some added danger that people will not seek real medical assistance. To the contrary, they may find that something that they would normally wait to go away actually requires early medical assistance. Plus, most people already do ask around when it is something they can talk about. All you would do is to put that discussion online.

jparicka• 15 years ago

Bad idea. Trust me.

hansy• 15 years ago

Things to consider:

1.) Creating a filter system that finely discriminates between similar conditions (i.e. many ailments have very similar external symptoms, how will you distinguish between them?), but don't make it overly complex with a million options because people will get confused

2.) A novel rating system that can eliminate bad suggestions and bring to the top the most effective solutions (perhaps individuals who contribute some of the most effective treatments gain special status??)

3.) Personal picture and video submissions may be helpful, but always hold peoples' privacy with utmost regard; also, should you choose to incorporate multimedia into your site, do so with caution as I personally would not be so inclined to visit your site if I were greeted with throbbing pustules every which way!

This is an idea I (along with thousands of people I'm sure) have thought about. WebMD isn't bad but it can definitely be better.

If you want someone to bounce additional ideas off of let me know!

Ask HN: Evaluate my startup idea: Q&A website for solving health problems

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