TEDxMaastricht - Dave deBronkart - aka e-Patient Dave: "Let patients help!"

Dave deBronkart, better known as "e-Patient Dave" (@epatientdave), was diagnosed in January 2007 with kidney cancer at a very late stage. Odds were stacked against him, with tumors in both lungs, several bones, and muscle tissue. He received great treatment: extensive surgery and biologic therapy helped him win the battle over his cancer. His last treatment was July 23, 2007, and by September it was clear he'd beaten the disease. Dave is now actively engaged in opening health care information directly to patients on an unprecedented level, thus creating a new dynamic in how information is delivered, accessed and used by the patient.

http://www.tedxmaastricht.com

What is TEDx?
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TED has created a program called TEDx. TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. Our event is called TEDxMaastricht, where x = independently organized TED event. At our TEDxMaastricht event, TEDTalks video and live speakers will combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events, including ours, are self-organized.

Please take a look at this video that explains what TEDx has become:

About TED
TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. Started as a four-day conference in California 25 years ago, TED has grown to support those world-changing ideas with multiple initiatives. The annual TED Conference invites the world's leading thinkers and doers to speak for 18 minutes. Their talks are then made available, free, at TED.com. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Al Gore, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Nandan Nilekani,Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Isabel Allende and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The annual TED Conference takes place in Long Beach, California, with simulcast in Palm Springs; TEDGlobal is held each year in Oxford, UK. TED's media initiatives include TED.com, where new TEDTalks are posted daily, and the Open Translation Project, which provides subtitles and interactive transcripts as well as the ability for any TEDTalk to be translated by volunteers worldwide.

TED has established the annual TED Prize, where exceptional individuals with a wish to change the world are given the opportunity to put their wishes into action; TEDx, which offers individuals or groups a way to host local, self-organized events around the world, and the TEDFellows program, helping world-changing innovators from around the globe to become part of the TED community and, with its help, amplify the impact of their remarkable projects and activities.

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[andrewspong]

Dave marches on stage like he's going to kick your ass. And he does :)

[pharmaphorum]

Great presentation and very thought provoking for the entire medical community. Well done Dave, let's hope people take new ideas away from this and act on them.

[Sam Elcock]

Anyone else come here from the article about him in the BMJ?

[laurasIs2c]

For all of my adult life I have heard the wise folks say if medical therapist of every stripe wanted to heal then they must study the folks who do heal spontaneously....stop excluding them from the studies.

[laurasIs2c]

So does that mean we will have doctors working to stop all the enforced treatment that threatens to drop any patient who doesn't want to go through the prescribed treatments.

[Ytubedm]

@greenapplejuice23 You will have a different opinion when it is your life or the life of one of your loved ones!

[WhereDaXanax]

Then why do you watch so many "how to flirt with girls via facebook" videos? Shit is kinda sad in my opinion...Your girl is most likely getting her ass rammed every time you go into the office "greenapplejuice23".

[WhereDaXanax]

If it wasn't for me researching my condition, then it would have NEVER been diagnosed, All the doctors I had been through had no idea what was going on because my condition is very rare, and has hardly any studies on it...

Thank God, I don't have an ignorant doctor like you that would just ignore me and give me opiate pain killers, instead of just hearing me out and thinking of solutions of what is actually causing the pain.

Congrats on knowing everything about everything though.

[greenapplejuice23]

I disagree. I am a MD and i hate it when patients come into office with their own google research! I didn't go to medical school to put up with that crap.

[ZDoggMD]

E to the Dizave...much love, glad to see you on YouTube, partner.

[Ryan Madanick]

Thanks for that. You are inspiring. It boggles my mind that a doctor would "fire" a patient because she didn't follow her doctor's orders (actually...they are just recommendations...).