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You're welcome to take it as foolish pre-modern ignorance if it strikes you that way, but actually yes: many people do not think to go to a doctor for minor bon

You're welcome to take it as foolish pre-modern ignorance if it strikes you that way, but actually yes: many people do not think to go to a doctor for minor bone injuries or vomiting, and many more than that wouldn't think to do so for more common everyday illnesses like a familiar sore throat, rash, nosebleed, fever, etc For some, this is rooted in a confidence in their own personal-community care, for others its an insight into what few actions a doctor might take themselves for these issues, etc There's lots of ways to explain it, and certainly many of them can be easily criticized by people who see professionalized medicine differently, but you may as well let go of the idea that everybody out there approaches it in the same way that you do. It's probably not even all that consistent among your own circle of family, friends, and acquaintences. We're still only in the beginning of what seems to be a sweeping cultural transformation around how people see health and medicine and the perspectives people bring are still quite diverse. At the same time, the overall direction in recent decades is definitely towards seeking commercial medical care for more concerns as well asserting that this is an entitlement that all people should have access to.

skybrian 2y ago
I haven’t heard of some of this and it raises a whole lot of questions. Can you tell us more? What is a “minor bone injury?” What sort of alternative healthcare do they use instead to treat it? Maybe give us an example of some people who do this?
- swatcoder 2y ago
  Well, to make an example that doesn't stretch into ethnic traditions and stays within the contemporary and modern experience that you and I probably share: Consider two non-professional runners who develop a stress fracture. It's a fairly common injury for distance runners who push themselves too far. It presents as a certain kind of pain and that pain becomes aggravated under certain conditions. It's generally easy to self-diagnosis, and more serious fractures are generally evident because they're far more disabling and intensely painful. One goes to a doctor, who quickly has a strong guess as to the problem. Nonetheless, they send the runner for an x-ray to confirm, then take another appointment to review the results and prescribe a treatment. That treatment will amount to rest and patience, and (with some doctors) some prescription for the pain. Total cost billed to someone is probably on the order of $1000. The other is pretty confident in their self-diagnosis and can't fathom the time demands, financial cost, and social resource consumption of bringing in a industrial apparatus just to confirm that diagnosis and be told to take it easy on their affected leg for a few months. Both examples play out everyday, and there's essentially no difference in health outcome for the vastly most common case. It's true that the latter is at higher risk of missing a more serious complication, but it's also true that the former invites costs, consequences, and risks of their own.
  - skybrian 2y ago
    Okay, thanks for clarifying!
- therealdrag0 2y ago
  I kicked a table and am 90% sure I broke my pinky toe which turned black and doubled in size. I didn’t go to doctor because I knew they wouldn’t do anything. A month later it’s back to normal. A friend did the same but got a doctor scan; they confirmed it was broke but did nothing else.

skybrian 2y ago

I haven’t heard of some of this and it raises a whole lot of questions. Can you tell us more? What is a “minor bone injury?” What sort of alternative healthcare do they use instead to treat it? Maybe give us an example of some people who do this?

swatcoder 2y ago
Well, to make an example that doesn't stretch into ethnic traditions and stays within the contemporary and modern experience that you and I probably share: Consider two non-professional runners who develop a stress fracture. It's a fairly common injury for distance runners who push themselves too far. It presents as a certain kind of pain and that pain becomes aggravated under certain conditions. It's generally easy to self-diagnosis, and more serious fractures are generally evident because they're far more disabling and intensely painful. One goes to a doctor, who quickly has a strong guess as to the problem. Nonetheless, they send the runner for an x-ray to confirm, then take another appointment to review the results and prescribe a treatment. That treatment will amount to rest and patience, and (with some doctors) some prescription for the pain. Total cost billed to someone is probably on the order of $1000. The other is pretty confident in their self-diagnosis and can't fathom the time demands, financial cost, and social resource consumption of bringing in a industrial apparatus just to confirm that diagnosis and be told to take it easy on their affected leg for a few months. Both examples play out everyday, and there's essentially no difference in health outcome for the vastly most common case. It's true that the latter is at higher risk of missing a more serious complication, but it's also true that the former invites costs, consequences, and risks of their own.
- skybrian 2y ago
  Okay, thanks for clarifying!
therealdrag0 2y ago
I kicked a table and am 90% sure I broke my pinky toe which turned black and doubled in size. I didn’t go to doctor because I knew they wouldn’t do anything. A month later it’s back to normal. A friend did the same but got a doctor scan; they confirmed it was broke but did nothing else.