6 ms·

I'm not sure about 95% of doctors being incompetent. If nothing else they are much better trained than the average person offering advice.

shock 6y ago
Trained to do what? Cure chronic disease? Edit: instead of answering, a bunch of doctors downvoted this question.
nmfisher 6y ago
I wouldn't say most doctors are incompetent, but I would say that most are automatons working to a checklist which probably hasn't been updated since they left school. Patient reports symptoms A, B, C? Order tests X, Y, Z, prescribe drugs 1, 2 and 3. Now that's probably appropriate for (say) 70% of patients. But what about the other 30% of patients whose symptoms or conditions don't fit squarely in the checklist? That's when some kind of analytical/critical diagnostic skills are needed, and in my experience, very few doctors possess these skills. Once you're in uncharted waters, they're not helpful. In fact, they're often actively unhelpful because they refuse to acknowledge that some things might be outside their expertise and they either need to actually hit the books, or do the work to find a specialist who can help you.
- wutbrodo 6y ago
  Great comment, sums up exactly what the issue is without resorting to shortcuts like "incompetent" that are more likely to offend than convince (something I've certainly been guilty of in the past). At this point, for mild to moderate healthcare-system interactions, I go to doctor's appt with a pretty accurate sense of what prescription and/or advice I'm leaving with. I basically consider it a fee I need to pay in order to get the legally-required prescription or referral I already know I need.
  - centimeter 6y ago
    What’s wrong with using shortcuts like “incompetent”? It’s not generally a good use of time to enumerate all the specific ways in which most professionals are incompetent, especially if you aren’t familiar with the field.
    - whatshisface 6y ago
      If they're 70% competent then you will be 70% wrong in calling them incompetent.
  - treeman79 6y ago
    I’ve tried reading medical reports of patient complaints. It is crazy hard. It’s like tech support on a Linux running Oracle with grandma.
- httpsterio 6y ago
  One thing you fail to mention / acknowledge is that what doctors are not doing is just running through check lists because that's what they are taught, but because they have to rule out a lot of stuff out first. In a lot of cases, the wrong type of medicine or diagnosis can be lethal.
wutbrodo 6y ago
I wouldn't go as far as the comment you're referencing, but the bar for incompetence at _human medicine_ should be infinitely higher than "the average person".
centimeter 6y ago
Yes, but they are worse than me at giving advice.

shock 6y ago

Trained to do what? Cure chronic disease? Edit: instead of answering, a bunch of doctors downvoted this question.

nmfisher 6y ago

I wouldn't say most doctors are incompetent, but I would say that most are automatons working to a checklist which probably hasn't been updated since they left school. Patient reports symptoms A, B, C? Order tests X, Y, Z, prescribe drugs 1, 2 and 3. Now that's probably appropriate for (say) 70% of patients. But what about the other 30% of patients whose symptoms or conditions don't fit squarely in the checklist? That's when some kind of analytical/critical diagnostic skills are needed, and in my experience, very few doctors possess these skills. Once you're in uncharted waters, they're not helpful. In fact, they're often actively unhelpful because they refuse to acknowledge that some things might be outside their expertise and they either need to actually hit the books, or do the work to find a specialist who can help you.

wutbrodo 6y ago
Great comment, sums up exactly what the issue is without resorting to shortcuts like "incompetent" that are more likely to offend than convince (something I've certainly been guilty of in the past). At this point, for mild to moderate healthcare-system interactions, I go to doctor's appt with a pretty accurate sense of what prescription and/or advice I'm leaving with. I basically consider it a fee I need to pay in order to get the legally-required prescription or referral I already know I need.
- centimeter 6y ago
  What’s wrong with using shortcuts like “incompetent”? It’s not generally a good use of time to enumerate all the specific ways in which most professionals are incompetent, especially if you aren’t familiar with the field.
  - whatshisface 6y ago
    If they're 70% competent then you will be 70% wrong in calling them incompetent.
- treeman79 6y ago
  I’ve tried reading medical reports of patient complaints. It is crazy hard. It’s like tech support on a Linux running Oracle with grandma.
httpsterio 6y ago
One thing you fail to mention / acknowledge is that what doctors are not doing is just running through check lists because that's what they are taught, but because they have to rule out a lot of stuff out first. In a lot of cases, the wrong type of medicine or diagnosis can be lethal.

wutbrodo 6y ago

I wouldn't go as far as the comment you're referencing, but the bar for incompetence at _human medicine_ should be infinitely higher than "the average person".

centimeter 6y ago

Yes, but they are worse than me at giving advice.