If I had my way, doctors of ALL specialties-- from gastrointestinal to psychology to osteopathy etc etc etc-- would be absolutely required, at or near the end of their training, to take rigourous courses in logic, critical thinking, and (especially) humility and self-questioning.

It's amazing how many doctors actually truly believe they are perfect, utterly without flaw or the ability to make any mistake, always right, and that their specialty-- and theirs alone-- would be the magic bullet to granting humanity eternal life and health, if only all the stinking rubes in the general public would just listen to them.

There are courses in humility and self-questioning?

I don't think certain things can be taught in a classroom.

I think the real solution is for people to remember that they own their bodies, and that they have the right to seek all the opinions they want, remembering that doctors are not a step above the rest of humanity. They aren't perfect and they don't know everything.

Physicians are not disinterested impartial observers.

They will offer you a book solution to your medical issues, that is within their area of specialization.

It is up to you to do the research and figure out if their solution is the best one for you.

If you are insured, the solution to your issue that will be offered, is the one that the physician will get paid for.

They are human, no more, no less.

My own experience with doctors who think they know what's best for patience comes from studying ASL. Surgeons are forever pushing cochlear implants on parents of deaf children, as if it's the way to go.

Of course they are. Insurance will pay for the surgery. They would be happy to perform expensive and extensive surgery on a two year old's head so they can have $100,000 of technology implanted in their heads for the rest of their lives, with giant discs that magnetically adhere to their heads and hearing aids.

Of course, they're not going to let the parents make informed decisions, such as...oh, I don't know...letting your child be deaf, learning sign language and immersion in a wonderful culture. To say nothing of a child having a normal childhood where he can run around and play like all other kids, fall down like kids are supposed to do and test the limits of their capabilities and improve upon them.

Hell, no! Say the docs. I'm pushing the surgery. I intend to retire in Rio!

I agree with the overall message, but I think he's being too kind to the first doctor. Even a garden-variety OB/GYN should know these days that there are uterus-sparing alternatives to hysterectomy that should be offered, especially to women hoping to become pregnant at some point in the future (as I gather Ari's wife does). Thank goodness they had the sense to look around for alternative recommendations, but it scares me that any OB/GYN is seriously recommending hysterectomy as a first-line option to treat fibroids for anyone, much less a woman of childbearing age who (apparently) wants to leave open the option of, y'know, bearing children.

Of course, they're not going to let the parents make informed decisions, such as...oh, I don't know...letting your child be deaf, learning sign language and immersion in a wonderful culture. To say nothing of a child having a normal childhood where he can run around and play like all other kids, fall down like kids are supposed to do and test the limits of their capabilities and improve upon them.

Hell, no! Say the docs. I'm pushing the surgery. I intend to retire in Rio!

Posted by: Patrick at August 4, 2013 9:57 AM

I think the truth and the debate over cochlear implants is a little more complicated than you make it out to be.

A lot of those parents of deaf children give up huge SSI disability payments if their childs hearing is restored by surgery.

In spite of all the wonderful technology we have today to assist the blind and the deaf, studies indicate that on average, a deaf child picks up less than half of the classroom content that a hearing child processes.

I dont think a wonderful "culture" built around ASL is a good trade off for reaching less than half of your educational potential.

I had friends in high school who were biological children of deaf parents. The hearing children were of enormous help to their parents who would not have been able to live independently in a rural area without them.

Remember when the power goes out, all those wonderful machines that allow the deaf and the blind to function in a hearing and seeing world, are just so much scrap metal and plastic.

I would get implants if my kid was dead, no question. Imagine never hearing a bird song or your lovers voice. The sounds of the wind in the trees or the ocean waves. No culture of deafness beats that.

I would get implants if my kid was dead, no question. -- momof4 at August 5, 2013 9:42 AM

M4,

They typo and taken out of context, that gave me the laugh of the day. Thanks. :-D

But I do agree that if the technology is there at a reasonable risk, why hold a child back.

That's awesome. Yes, for my kid if kid was DEAF, not dead.