Doctors working for hospitals run by Singapore Health Services can now send out daily SMS messages to family members of patients to inform them how their family member is doing, how they are responding to treatment, or to remind them that they have an appointment at the hospital. It’s a great idea — not everybody can be around each day to talk to the doctor — but I hope the service, which they’ve called Mercury, isn’t used when more delicate information needs to be conveyed. “OMG UR DAD IS DED” isn’t exactly a message I’d want to get, especially since my dad has never even been to Singapore.
