Let patients watch surgery they're to undergo?

This article in the New York Times (free reg. req'd) made my stomach flip-flop, but maybe it'd be useful for less squeamish folks: Live Surgical Webcasts Play to Potential Patients A snip:

MEDICAL advertising tends to involve glowing testimonials from fit-looking former patients, or commercials describing vague health problems that sign off with "Ask your doctor if our drug is right for you." Hospitals broadcast images of state-of-the-art facilities, eminent doctors and attentive nurses.





But slp3d, a small Webcasting specialist in West Hartford, Conn., is demonstrating that there is a small but avid audience for far more realistic and detailed information about medical treatments.





Slp3d began marketing its live Webcasts from hospital operating rooms as an educational tool that would allow top surgeons to lecture far-flung doctors in the same branch of medicine. These days, though, when doctors are appearing on slp3d's Web site, www.OR-live.com, the expectation is that a majority of the audience will be potential patients.

Do you imagine this type of thing will become more widespread? Or are most patients more like me--hold the graphics, please.