DocWire News Editors

DocwireNews

Patients are beginning to use digital health apps designed to allow chats with doctors or receive diagnoses to confess thoughts of suicide. These apps are becoming an extremely effective means of managing diabetes and translating symptoms to a diagnosis, but many health startups are struggling to handle these dilemmas that even suicide hotlines can struggle with.&ldquo;To be honest, when we started this, I didn&rsquo;t think it was as big an issue as it obviously is,&rdquo; said Daniel Nathrath, CEO of Ada Health, whose AI-powered app has been <a href="https://ada.com/about/">ranked the number one medical app in 130 countries</a>.This Europe-based company&rsquo;s chatbot was designed to give consumers potential diagnoses for their experienced symptoms and has completed over 10 million health assessments since its 2016 debut. Unfortunately, Ada Health claims that in 130,000 of these reviews the user informed the chatbot of suicidal tendencies or thoughts.Patients expressing thoughts about causing self-harm is among several adverse situations that were not predicted by many digital health startups. American Well, a telemedicine company, once experienced a situation in which a physician had to call the police to report domestic violence seen in a video visit.<a href="https://proddocwire.wpengine.com/docwire-pick/future-of-medicine-picks/pd-coach-app-uses-ai-virtual-coach-to-help-parkinsons-patients/">READ MORE:&nbsp;Parkinson&rsquo;s Disease Coach App Uses AI Virtual Coach to Help Parkinson&rsquo;s Patients</a>Though this situation described is a severe crisis that occurred through digital health platforms, suicidal thoughts are much more prevalent. This is to no surprise, being that much research has shown higher likelihood of confessing adverse thoughts on a computer rather than in person.&ldquo;People are going to express their suicidality,&rdquo; said April Foreman, a psychologist working with the veteran&rsquo;s crisis line run by the Department of Veterans Affairs. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve destigmatized it. What we&rsquo;ve not done is prepared everybody [to respond]&rdquo;.When using the Ada Health app and answering a serious of questions starting at &ldquo;Do you feel tired today?&rdquo;, leading to questions about depression, and finally arriving at questions about suicide, the app will instruct the user to immediately seek help.Some users continue their inquiries about suicide with after the conversation with the chatbot ends, emailing suicidal thoughts to Ada&rsquo;s customer support team. These workers then have to try to handle these questions that are far out of their job description, recommending different mental health resources.<a href="https://proddocwire.wpengine.com/future-of-medicine/fda-launches-mystudies-app-allowing-users-to-enroll-in-studies/">READ MORE:&nbsp;FDA Launches MyStudies App Allowing Users to Enroll in Studies</a>Most digital health companies have plans in place to handle patients who share thoughts of suicide. Despite the small percentage of cases in which this happens, the stakes are high enough that most executives feel it is necessary to have a protocol in place. Interventions often include directing them to suicide hotlines, having them call a friend, or encouraging them to go to emergency departments. In higher risk scenarios the companies are often prepared to get police or emergency medical services involved, regardless of patient consent.These digital health platforms offer a convenient, and often extremely effective means of providing health care to the consumer, but many feel they are not yet equipped to handle thoughts of suicide. Dr. Peter Antall, CMO at American Well, feels medical chatbots have great potential but worries that suicidal thoughts can go unseen without a physician seeing and hearing the patient. American Well focuses on patient-physician interactions via video, or over the phone if connection is poor.&ldquo;Given the acuity and the seriousness of somebody potentially trying to kill themselves, I don&rsquo;t believe that any of those other technologies are there at this point,&rdquo; said Antall.<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
As patients tell apps they&rsquo;re feeling suicidal, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/digitalhealth?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#digitalhealth</a> startups scramble to respond <a href="https://t.co/xYqGMsNugy">https://t.co/xYqGMsNugy</a> by <a href="https://twitter.com/RebeccaDRobbins?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@rebeccadrobbins</a> in <a href="https://twitter.com/statnews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@statnews</a>. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/chatbots?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#chatbots</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Mentalhealth?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Mentalhealth</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/suicide?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#suicide</a>
&mdash; Daniel Kraft, MD (@daniel_kraft) <a href="https://twitter.com/daniel_kraft/status/1110224372931788810?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 25, 2019</a>
</blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script><a href="https://proddocwire.wpengine.com/docwire-pick/future-of-medicine-picks/fda-birth-control-app-natural-cycles/">READ MORE:&nbsp;FDA Approves First Birth Control App &ndash; Natural Cycles</a>Source: <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2019/03/25/patients-suicidal-thoughts-digital-health-apps-response/">STAT</a>

Jordana Jampel

FDA Approves Mepolizumab as Add-On Treatment for COPD

Pulmonology

Eva Blondeaux, MD

Balancing Fertility and Cancer Risk in BRCA+ Young Women

Genetics & Breast Cancer

Risk-Reducing Surgery Linked to Survival in Young BRCA Carriers

Latest News

Patients Telling Digital Healthcare Apps of Suicidal Thoughts

Depression

Patients are beginning to use digital health apps designed to allow chats with doctors or receive diagnoses to confess thoughts of suicide. These apps are becoming an ...

About Us

Editorial Policy

Advertising

Contact Us

eNewsletters

Contribute

Career Center

MashupMD

Blood Cancers Today

Cancer Nursing Today

GU Oncology Now

Urban Health Today

Anemia

Deep Vein Thrombosis

Essential Thrombocythemia

Hemophilia

Immune Thrombocytopenic Purpura

Myelodysplastic Syndromes

Myelofibrosis

Myeloproliferative Neoplasms

Polycythemia Vera

Pulmonary Embolism

Sickle Cell Disease

Thrombocytopenia

Thrombophilia

Thrombosis

Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura

Venous Thromboembolism

von Willebrand Disease

Heme Today

Acute Kidney Injury

ADPKD

Anemia and Kidney Disease

Chronic Kidney Disease

COVID-19 and Kidney Disease

Diabetes and Hypertension

End-Stage Renal Disease

Gout

Hyperkalemia

IgAN

Kidney Transplantation

Metabolic Acidosis

Nephrology Times

HER2 Breast Cancer

HR Breast Cancer

Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

Breast Cancers Today

Atherosclerotic Disease

Atrial Fibrillation

Heart Failure

Hypertension

Interventional Cardiology

Lipid Management

Practice Tips With Dr. Lichaa

Preventive Cardiology

Stroke

Cardiology

Breast Cancer

Gynecologic Cancer

Head and Neck Cancer

Skin Cancer

Oncology

Sleep

Urology

Diabetes

Ophthalmology

— Demodex Blepharitis

Neurology

Rheumatology

Gastroenterology

Infectious Diseases

— HIV

Health and Wellness

Lupus

Future of Medicine

Orthopedics

Pharmacology

Career News

More

Conferences

CardioNerds

The Sleep Source With Dr. Morse

Rheumatology Rounds With Dr. Maheswaranathan

Partners

Expert Interviews

Subscribe