Doctors should say "I don't know" more

[DefenderOfBasic]

relevant critique: https://x.com/Nymdok/status/1814349280624443515. Also H0B0_elite.

steve storgatz on doctors / depression / empirical medicine https://x.com/DefenderOfBasic/status/1801968400077320618

[ray-dorai]

https://journals.lww.com/academicmedicine/fulltext/2002/10001/the_aging_physician__changes_in_cognitive.2.aspx effects of age on physician decisions- anecdotally, it seems like this is a pattern that exists in many specializations. one example that comes to mind is the switch from iron sights to red dot sights in professions of arms.

[DefenderOfBasic]

thanks @ray-dorai !!!

a couple more thoughts since I opened this:

• I think the what I have most faith in is the "self correcting institution of medicine", not any individual doctor. It's not about whether the experts are trustworthy or not, but about this expert, and how they're doing today. Expertise/correct decisions is more like riding a bike than an inherent property of a person. It's something you do not something you are
  • so it's very very very important that there are ways to "sanity check", whether by the patient or co-pilot
• "where do experts come from" has been a useful question. You don't "become" an expert overnight when you get a piece of paper, like you weren't capable yesterday, now you are.
  • experts have their own experts that they put up on a pedestal/trust unquestioningly etc.
  • same exact problem/dynamic happens there.

"random people aren't experts, this is bad advice, you can't trust them to make decisions like this!" -> idk I think this is bad advice. The average person still has to make a decision about which experts to trust. I think the "good experts" should explain how they know what they know & why we should trust them, to help us make better decisions, rather than boohooing the lack of trust (the lack of trust happens because doctors never tell you when they don't know)