[Sparticus]

So we’ve learned more in the last 200 years than was learned in the previous 5000?

Absolutely! Just a few hundred years ago, the majority of doctors thought that the idea that infections are caused by germs was ludicrous.

[csmusaret]

And in the last ten years caffeine has been bad for you then no problem, and now it has health benefits. Cholesterol was thought to be the cause of blocked arteries, but now inflammation is the culprit.

[driftdiver]

Doctors bury their mistakes, both now and 200 years ago.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***the majority of doctors thought that the idea that infections are caused by germs was ludicrous. ****

You mean it is not caused by bad air (Miasma)?

[fr_freak]

Absolutely! Just a few hundred years ago, the majority of doctors thought that the idea that infections are caused by germs was ludicrous.

Medical knowledge has certainly improved 100-fold, at least, over the last few hundred years, but you know what hasn't improved? People. People get lazy, apathetic, and callous. That may not be a big problem when the person is a ditch digger, but when he's a doctor charged with diagnosing ailments, prescribing medicine, and performing surgery, it can lead to unpleasant things, like death.

My experience with the modern medical field, which is, at this point, unfortunately extensive, has shown me that the level of knowledge and complexity of modern medicine has outstripped the ability of the average doctor to track it and understand it properly. Thus, we get doctors prescribing the latest fad medicine, refusing to take more than 5 minutes to listen to a patient before deciding on whichever diagnosis requires the least amount of thought and effort, recommending unnecessary surgeries, sewing scalpels into people's bodies, administering contra-indicated drugs, and generally just putting in a minimum of effort. Now before some of you medical Freepers get your panties twisted - it's obvious that not every doctor does this, but there is a reason that doctors' errors kill more people every year than car accidents and gunshots.

I think that the medical profession has been falsely elevated to some mythical status, where people are expected to blindly accept whatever a guy with a medical degree says. Especially when it comes to new problems, modern medicine gets it wrong as much as they get it right. That's part of the learning process and probably can't be helped, but everyone should take the position that the primary responsibility for their health rests with themselves. Doctors are merely a tool.