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Are doctors, as a group, becoming stupider? I think patients are getting smarter, and conditions for doctors are worse causing some intelligent people to choos

Are doctors, as a group, becoming stupider? I think patients are getting smarter, and conditions for doctors are worse causing some intelligent people to choose different fields. That said, I recently went through a major illness and interacted with many medical professionals. My first hand experience/anecdata is that doctors are just like every other professional. Some are good, some are mediocre. Some are so consumed by hubris they believe the public is always wrong, and Some are willing to talk things through and keep an open mind about everything, even if it is ridiculous. The best thing we could do for healthcare is to remove the idea that "doctor knows best." While it is important for doctors to feel confident, and to teach the public to avoid snakeoil, it just places unreal expectations on these people. If patients took more accountability for their own health, then we could loosen some of the malpractice laws, and doctors insurance premiums would go down, and that would in turn cause rates to go down. But that was a bit of a tangent from my point that doctors are just people, maybe with an average intelligence that is slightly above the population at large, but still just people.

ROTMetro 4y ago
To make life and death decisions for people requires you have hubris and faith in yourself. I can't imagine what would happen to my hypercritical/overthinking self if I was a doctor making life and death choices, some resulting in death, for people for 10 years. I had a hard enough time when I did medical software, working 80 hour weeks to get a new release out the door because it was going to positively impact people's lives and a delay meant X people's lives wouldn't be improved, and I took that on as me failing those people who I didn't help every day the release didn't go out.
- dec0dedab0de 4y ago
  To make life and death decisions for people requires you have hubris and faith in yourself. Sure, but outside of surgeons and the ER, most doctors are not making life or death decisions all too often. Your average family medicine doctor should always be presenting multiple options for care, and be honest with the patient and themselves that they may be wrong about the diagnosis. I know some people dislike so-called weasel words, but doctors should be using them regularly.

ROTMetro 4y ago

To make life and death decisions for people requires you have hubris and faith in yourself. I can't imagine what would happen to my hypercritical/overthinking self if I was a doctor making life and death choices, some resulting in death, for people for 10 years. I had a hard enough time when I did medical software, working 80 hour weeks to get a new release out the door because it was going to positively impact people's lives and a delay meant X people's lives wouldn't be improved, and I took that on as me failing those people who I didn't help every day the release didn't go out.

dec0dedab0de 4y ago
To make life and death decisions for people requires you have hubris and faith in yourself. Sure, but outside of surgeons and the ER, most doctors are not making life or death decisions all too often. Your average family medicine doctor should always be presenting multiple options for care, and be honest with the patient and themselves that they may be wrong about the diagnosis. I know some people dislike so-called weasel words, but doctors should be using them regularly.