4 ms·

Even "very good" doctors often don't know the state of the art procedures and treatments for their craft, as I have personally discovered since a close family m

Even "very good" doctors often don't know the state of the art procedures and treatments for their craft, as I have personally discovered since a close family member began receiving cancer treatment. From my experience, the vast majority of doctors' response to bringing up experimental treatments or care - or even recently approved, well-researched treatments - is a mindless affirmation of "that's the future", meaning they don't know anything about it. If you press them, most will say that they prefer to start patients with XYZ, which means "I want your business but don't know about that treatment". This happened to my own sick relative, a pharmacogenomics researcher, who said it reminded him almost exactly of trying to get clinicians to incorporate basic gene panels into their practice (e.g. don't give this patient warfarin because they have this gene which will make them bleed to death). As a society we are much too afraid to call shitty doctors shitty doctors. Having parents in medicine, I grew up hearing about them all the time. I do believe that most doctors would not consciously and maliciously decide to sacrifice people's health for money. I also believe that most doctors aren't particularly diligent about keeping up to date on medical information throughout their careers; for every developer with 30+ years of experience who has treated a job as a job and worked with the same tech staff for all his life without bothering to learn new ones, there's a doctor doing the same with medicine.

stochastic_monk 8y ago
It’s true that there are such doctors. My experience is not necessarily typical, as these were faculty at a well-regarded cancer hospital and always very close to new developments. The ones I mention, being involved in clinical trials and new treatments/diagnostics makes them particularly appropriate for this discussion because they are at the intersection of translational treatment and patients. (Cures vs patients) You’re right that many doctors aren’t called out like they should be out of some misguided deference, and I’m disappointed to hear how many of them are in cases which matter so, so very much to you, if not to them. With regard to your personal experience, remember that no professional will care as much about your or your loved one’s condition as you will. You (or your loved one) are the only patient you’re treating, and I encourage you to advocate as necessary.

stochastic_monk 8y ago

It’s true that there are such doctors. My experience is not necessarily typical, as these were faculty at a well-regarded cancer hospital and always very close to new developments. The ones I mention, being involved in clinical trials and new treatments/diagnostics makes them particularly appropriate for this discussion because they are at the intersection of translational treatment and patients. (Cures vs patients) You’re right that many doctors aren’t called out like they should be out of some misguided deference, and I’m disappointed to hear how many of them are in cases which matter so, so very much to you, if not to them. With regard to your personal experience, remember that no professional will care as much about your or your loved one’s condition as you will. You (or your loved one) are the only patient you’re treating, and I encourage you to advocate as necessary.