Magnificent Ruin

Medical doctors in America are not trained to think like scientists—they are trained to present themselves as all-knowing experts whose facade of incredible intelligence and skill is supposed to comfort the patient and thus somehow miraculously lead to a good outcome. The time for this to change is long past.

In science we are constantly reminded of how stupid we are compared to the incredible complexity of the universe. In engineering, we are taught how dangerous it is to assume anything as certain when designing complex systems. In contrast, medical doctors are trained to act like investment bankers who are so smart and confident that nothing can possibly go wrong on their watch.

Until medical doctors are trained to think scientifically, that is (1) to admit that they do not know everything and indeed know very little about how the human body actually works, (2) to use evidence/experiment based logic to DEDUCE, rather than assume, a particular diagnosis, and (3) to test their hypotheses of diagnosis through critical thinking exercises, we will continue to have these types of catastrophic and needlessly tragic outcomes.