Does it go without saying that they are not stupid? Many is the physician that I have met that I concluded I would have preferred to encounter while under anesthesia.
Compounding the problem is everyone treating MDs as if they are geniuses -- the M.Deity syndrome.
No. They make mistakes.
But! Today's medicine is metric bound and liability policed. Test results one smidgen higher or lower than 'average' require medication without consideration of all the other activities of the body.
There is a wonderful documentary -- I believe it is called "Rounds" -- that shows older physicians instructing medical students. The older physicians do wild things like listening to the patient, touching the patient, and asking questions. Shocking. Then, if they need to know more, they look at the tests. The medical students swoon in confusion. The older doctors get the diagnoses right more often than not and they seem to be able to hear trouble coming with impressive accuracy.
Does it go without saying that they are not stupid? Many is the physician that I have met that I concluded I would have preferred to encounter while under anesthesia.
Compounding the problem is everyone treating MDs as if they are geniuses -- the M.Deity syndrome.
No. They make mistakes.
But! Today's medicine is metric bound and liability policed. Test results one smidgen higher or lower than 'average' require medication without consideration of all the other activities of the body.
There is a wonderful documentary -- I believe it is called "Rounds" -- that shows older physicians instructing medical students. The older physicians do wild things like listening to the patient, touching the patient, and asking questions. Shocking. Then, if they need to know more, they look at the tests. The medical students swoon in confusion. The older doctors get the diagnoses right more often than not and they seem to be able to hear trouble coming with impressive accuracy.