The Chilean miner rescue, # telemedicine, and the philosophy of life

As one of the many following the Chilean miner rescue, it occurred to me, beyond the incredible human interest story, that this event highlighted various lessons beyond the courage of the miners themselves. As you can see from these 3 points, given the extreme situation, the rules of the game changed.

a) telemedicine was embraced  (read about the Zephyr Physiological Status Monitoring system)

b) there was delegation of medical responsibility to non-physicians 

c) cost of $10 to 20 million was apparently not an issue in the saving of human life (several hundred thousand dollars per person) - although the mining company is being asked to reimburse 2/3 of the cost.

Hmmm. I'll leave you to ponder the above.