3 ms·
>When's the last time your doctor/nurse discussed the potential side-effects with you? On the one hand your right and doctors should be honest about the risks
by Houshalter 13y ago
>When's the last time your doctor/nurse discussed the potential side-effects with you?
On the one hand your right and doctors should be honest about the risks and it should be your choice. On the other hand it's just going to get kids killed when parents hear the doctor tell them about the potential side-effects and decide not to vaccinate.
>The thought that occurred to me was that, innumeracy being so widespread, no one would dare put numbers on that sheet of paper. If "amputation" is listed as a consequence with a probability of 0.0001%, patients will run screaming out of the office, crying, "Not my toe! I don't want to lose my toe!" No amount of patient explanation will suffice to convince them that they ought to diminish the emotional force of their fear by a factor of one million. Each extra zero after the decimal point would only be one more symbol for their eyes to glaze over; it would not diminish the emotional force of the anticipation by an additional factor of ten.
(source http://lesswrong.com/lw/h4/useless_medical_disclaimers/ http://lesswrong.com/lw/h4/useless_medical_disclaimers/)