5 ms·
> That’s alarming because life expectancy has stagnated in the United States and declined in the early 2020s, O’Brian said. I wonder if that is due to listenin
by meh999 2y ago
> That’s alarming because life expectancy has stagnated in the United States and declined in the early 2020s, O’Brian said.
I wonder if that is due to listening to our doctors and not taking 2nd or 3rd opinion. I was asking many doctors to diagnoze my illness, and although all of them said my body is ill, they were giving different, sometimes even contradicting directions. My health is more valuable than trust to doctor, or to the system- everyone can make mistake and trusting blindly is not good for our health. Same effect as rejecting all opinions.
- Braxton1980 2y agoA doctor has a higher probability of being right. Not trusting doctors is trusting yourself, unless you're a doctor you're more likely to be wrong
- meh999 2y agoI did not say 'don't trust', I said 'don't trust blindly without taking 2nd or 3rd opinion' trusting blindly is as bad, if not worse than not trusting at all- 'above all do no harm'
- Braxton1980 2y agoWhat's the difference between trusting a doctor and trusting a doctor blindly? Maybe an example would help me understand because I'm concerned the word "blindly" is being used as a way to make the concept of trusting a doctor seem inherently wrong
- meh999 2y agoBlindly, strong word- I agree. By saying 'trusting blindly' I meant 'dismissing possibility of incorrect diagnosis and applying prescribed procedure withought weighting the risk'. So, if GP gave diagnosis and informed about the risks and outlined other diagnosis that are less probable based on his experience, and the patient weighted the risk and decided to go with the procedure without taking 2nd opinion, that in my opinion would not be 'trusting blindly'
- Braxton1980 2y agoIf you get a 2nd opinion you're just trusting another doctor. If they disagree then what?
- meh999 2y agoget as many as required, my health is worth more than my opinion on doctors or system as a whole.
- SirMaster 2y agoBut sometimes you know your body and what's going on with it better than your doctor as hard as they try to understand it. Blinding trusting what a doctor says to do can absolutely lead to the wrong treatment and outcome. At the very least you should get multiple opinions.
- Yizahi 2y agoMandatory multiple opinions means that multiple doctors need to allocate the same amount of time for the patient as the original doctor. Then having two opinions is not enough, in case they differ you can't discern who is right. So you need three opinions for the tie breaker. So now each doctor has to see three times more patients, meaning admission wait times has now also increased three times. So the appointment in 1 week will happen in 3 weeks now, the non urgent appointment in 6 months is now 1.5 years away, and so on.
- meh999 2y agoYou can skip 2nd or 3rd opinion, nobody denies you the right to do that. Still, you should not deny others the right to have 2nd or third opinion, especially since you yourself see high probability of receiving different diagnosis.
- SirMaster 2y agoIt's not mandatory, but it is your health, so do what you like. I am just saying what I do and would do, and based on my past experience, I will continue to keep doing.
- Braxton1980 2y ago>Blinding trusting what a doctor says to do can absolutely lead to the wrong treatment and outcome But it probably won't be. Why would you counter an argument about probability by stating one outcome?
- SirMaster 2y agoI am not personally willing to risk my health on a probably. Past experience with doctors and procedures that I have needed or not needed make me realize how important it has been to get at least a second opinion.
- DavidPiper 2y ago"Blind contrarianism is just as dangerous as blind faith." "Rejecting everything you're told is just as intellectually lazy as believing everything you're told." Something I think about a lot.
- duxup 2y agoYeah I consider myself generally skeptical about just about anything, but skepticism is of no use if you're not actually thinking / considering the facts. There's a lot of default cynicism I see out on the internet and while it might be true that your doctor makes more money of they order that test ... it doesn't mean you shouldn't get that test.