Aaron,
I just want to echo what everyone else said and defiantly go through with the medical project. I just finished up a self directed medical project for my folio and it was a great experience and it has gotten good feedback as well. I would advise though to be weary of specific medication focused issues. I ran into a ton of trouble finding research and even getting in touch with experts when my focus was so focused on a specific medication treatment. In my case, my initial research was too closely tied to IP protected drugs and drug research that it was difficult for to find experts willing to talk. I ended up using all this though to direct me to new opportunities. Also you could use this as an opportunity to reach out to consultancies with experience in the field, designers at a few of these places served as a great resource for my project.
Ben