>But in front of patients, they’re afraid any sign of uncertainty will lead to patients concluding that some other quackery is just as good as actual medicine

>But in front of patients, they’re afraid any sign of uncertainty will lead to patients concluding that some other quackery is just as good as actual medicine This, but also in particularly litigious countries like the USA, they have to be extremely careful of opening up lawsuits. A doctor saying "I don't know." followed by a bad patient outcome has a pretty high chance of being a lawsuit.