from Hacker News

Meadow (YC W15) ‘Ubered’ Over a Doctor to Give Me a Medical Marijuana Evaluation

by rickharrison on 2/4/15, 10:11 PM with 31 comments

  • by click170 on 2/5/15, 12:52 AM

    This is maybe a little bit off topic, but I am glad to see that Doctors on Demand would be doing general medical house calls in the US. This seems like a good idea, I hope it spreads.

    I don't live in the US myself, but I've always wondered why doctors doing house calls was a UK thing but wasn't a North American thing, even in Canada.

    Are there real obstacles preventing doctors from making house calls in the US, or is it just tradition to "go see your doctor" instead of them coming to see you?

  • by bunkydoo on 2/5/15, 12:08 AM

    Well, here's the thing. I'm not actually sure doctors will be out of the mix with legalization on the horizon. Because to expand the cannabis market and poach alcohol sales - you could have doctors vouch for cannabis & cannabis-infused products as remedies for common ailments (when is the last time a doctor did this for a brand of vodka?)Think Mary-Kay - but for doctors who endorse weed. This market is going to be a lot bigger than I think anybody realizes.

  • by briandear on 2/5/15, 8:24 AM

    I find it interesting that YC and other significant investors/players in the startup space to be investing in a product that still remains illegal in the United States. It's still a schedule I drug.

    I think the floodgates have opened towards full legalization, but for VC/Investors/Accelerators to invest in a company who's product is illegal -- that's bold. Good for them!

  • by eigenrick on 2/4/15, 10:42 PM

    Legalizing weed in CA will destroy an entire industry.

  • by PeterWhittaker on 2/4/15, 11:40 PM

    Perhaps it's just because I live far from the valley and have never used Uber, but I had to scan the article repeatedly to figure out what the headline meant.

    (No, I didn't read it, I simply scanned, I stopped reading after the first sentence. If you cannot bother to tell me in the first sentence why I should continue, I don't. And telling me you visited a website doesn't tell me why you did so. Whatever.)

    What does it mean, you ask? That the company described has struck a deal with local physicians to perform on-demand evaluations for medical marijuana prescriptions.

    A better headline, less link-baity, would be "Meadow (YC W15) hires doctors for {just in time|on demand|favourite term here} medical marijuana evaluation.

    But that wouldn't be as sexy as uberizing, now, would it?