I don't think Larry meant a hands off approach to medicine, but your mothers case or our sons is full proof of the value of modern medicine. I cringe to think of Sotomayor dealing with type 1 (an autoimmune disease that afflicts mostly children and is not life stye related like type 2 diabetes) diabetes 50-60 years ago. As bad as that thought is, it was not that much before that type 1 diabetes was simply a death sentence for children; unable to break down and digest sugars, they simply starved to death.

Today with advances in medical technology, our son stands a much better chance to live a long healthy life. But he needs constant medical check ups to maintain a healthy diabetes regimen.

Not seeing him for months at a time(he's still in college), I'm always taken aback when he nonchallantly injects himself with insulin(pumps are great but it's still a hands on 24/7 science for type1 diabetics). When he was first diagnosed, we thought a cure was not far in the future. Today, I hope he'll see something in his lifetime.