Agree, but it’s hard to know if one does or doesn’t
depends on what’s being proposed, (eg acute v chronic issue). MDs take and process info (eg patient histories, tests, etc), and offer their opinions/advice. Does one trust their MD or need further validation (eg second, third opinions). I’m just not sure “must” is the right thing in every situation.
agree, although people just know from TV shows that if they would have just done the CT, everything would have been okay earlier.
There are over 100 specialties/subspecialties in medicine. Medicine covers a lot of territory. which is why MDs typically spend at least 3-5 years minimum POST med school in supervised training in one of those specialties/subspecialties. Every MD is a specialist, even a GP. So although there can be overlap between specialties, I think MDs do tend to propose treatment that they experienced firsthand as being effective which in case of surgeons is a surgical approach… On the other hand I’ve had chronic neck problems for years and was sent to neurosurgeon who recommended a noninvasive pathway.
Agree, many people benefit greatly by medical/surgical treatments, unfortunately people do get poor outcomes, are worse off, die during/after treatment. There is always risk to treatment/no treatment. If a MD guarantees you an outcome, you should run away as fast as you can.
I don’t want my doctors to be practicing on the basis of anecdata and small samples.
My brother broke his hip in a motorcycle mishap a few years ago, and the surgeon made a complicated repair. He insisted that it would take a year to determine whether it was effective. After a year of near constant pain, my brother ended up seeing another surgeon. The guy said that with his particular injury (femoral neck fracture) and his age, the only sure bet was a total hip replacement, and this is what should have been done at the beginning. He was walking around a week after the hip replacement, but he could have been spared a year of suffering if the first surgeon hadn’t wanted to try some pet technique of his on a man for whom it was completely unsuitable.
Surgeons operate. So expecting a surgeon to recommend something other than surgery will, in many cases, be unreasonable. The vast majority of surgeons and other physicians do great work but most of them probably think that their approach is the best approach. Just be prepared for that when you see a specialist.
I see. It’s unreasonable to expect surgeons to follow the Hippocratic Oath, and refrain from recommending treatments that are useless, harmful or not the best way to handle a problem. Got it.
I guess I’m naive in thinking surgeons ought to be honest in their work.
Sorry, I should have reworded my comment. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect physicians to follow the Hippocratic Oath. But I also think that surgeons have a bias toward surgery (otherwise, why are they in that specialty?), psychiatrists have a bias toward prescribing meds, and so on.
Several years ago, my mom had back surgery because of severe pain. The first surgeon she saw recommended against surgery; he said my mom should lose weight instead. She didn’t like that response. The second surgeon said, in essence, “Bring it on!” My mom’s pain was so bad that she heard what she wanted to hear. The surgeon couldn’t guarantee success and he didn’t; he said that something like 90% of patients would have less pain after the surgery. After the operation, nearly the first thing he said to us while we were at my mom’s bedside was that the operation had been a technical success. But it sure wasn’t a success in the way it counted for my mom: her pain afterward was not substantially less.
Another thing about physicians and treatments generally and my mom’s situation specifically: my mom’s ultimate goal wasn’t surgical treatment of her back; it was pain relief. I think it’s accurate to say that the medical profession in general is not adept at dealing with pain. Some physicians overprescribe pain meds, some underprescribe. I think physicians should be aware of the possibilities for addiction, but I didn’t then and don’t now think that my mom would become addicted to painkillers. She could have been safely prescribed higher doses. The surgeon who operated wouldn’t have done that, not just because he was a surgeon but because he personally was opposed to painkillers. We didn’t know it at the time, but one of his children was addicted to opioids, and she ended up dying a few years later from an accidental overdose.