> How, then, do doctors diagnose patients? The problem, said Dr. Andrew Lea, a historian of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital who was not involved with t

> How, then, do doctors diagnose patients? The problem, said Dr. Andrew Lea, a historian of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital who was not involved with the study, is that “we really don’t know how doctors think.” In describing how they came up with a diagnosis, doctors would say, “intuition,” or, “based on my experience,” Dr. Lea said. I was a big fan of the show House as a kid, and I remember being blown away when I learned that the “Department of Diagnostic Medicine” was made up for the show and not a standard department in every large hospital.