A Parkinson’s patient can now walk 6km (3.7 miles) thanks to an implant targeting the spinal cord. The Guardian reports that the man — 62-year-old “Marc” from Bordeaux, France — developed severe mobility impairments from the degenerative disease. “I practically could not walk anymore without falling frequently, several times a day,” he said in a press release announcing the breakthrough. “In some situations, such as entering a lift, I’d trample on the spot, as though I was frozen there, you might say.” Wearing the spinal implant allows him to walk “almost normally” as the research team eyes a full clinical trial.

    • magnetosphere@kbin.social
      6·
      8 months ago

      A large part of the American healthcare system is made of for-profit businesses. Capitalism and genuinely empathetic healthcare are mutually exclusive, and the parts that actually work for patients have only managed to do so because of a shit-ton of regulation. Regulation that corporations are constantly fighting and struggling to weaken. They buy politicians to help.

      Pharmaceutical companies will claim that drug prices are high because R&D is so expensive, but that didn’t stop them from fighting for the right to advertise prescription drugs on TV. Last I read, only the U.S. and New Zealand allow that. Producing and airing those ads can cost millions. R&D is expensive, but apparently not so expensive that they can’t afford that. Capitalism does not have a conscience.

      I’m a sad sack because I’ve seen (and am currently seeing) friends and family members get screwed by a system that allegedly exists to help them, but really just profits off their pain. I know I’ll probably end up being exploited, too.

      • ripcord@kbin.social
        11·
        8 months ago

        Ok, but it’s really nice that there’s a new treatment giving a dude a way better quality of life and give hope to others.

        We don’t have to immediately turn everything into sadness. Sometimes stuff can be good, without a bunch of people trying to figure out why it sucks because everything sucks and woe is the world.