Limits - Intertwingled: Information Changes Everything - page 107

Figure 5-7. Leading causes of death.
This does not mean all doctors are evil. Most of them believe they are doing good work. In fact,
their confidence (and ours) is a large part of the problem. Our culture has an inordinate faith in
the miracle of modern medicine, and a dangerous predisposition towards intervention. When
we visit a physician, we expect diagnosis and prescription. We don't want our doctor to say “I
don't know.” But, more often than we know (or want to know), doctors truly don't know what
they're doing. Our understanding of the complex systems that bind us together into billions of
unique mixtures of mind-body-environment is limited. We're lost in the wilderness in the dark
with a tiny flashlight. But we hate feeling helpless and want a quick fix, so we place our trust in
the doctor.
We're not good at assigning trust. Bernie Madoff knew that well. We let what we want shift
what we know. I do this all the time with the weather. I know the forecast isn't exact but want to
ride my bike, so I try threading the needle between storms and end up soaked to the bone.
Sadly, our trust in doctors is even more misplaced, since malpractice isn't as random as a butter-
fly flapping its wings. With respect to our long-term health, a doctor doesn't have skin in the
game. They don't suffer with us. To a degree, the opposite is true. Also, they are influenced by
information and gifts delivered routinely by sales representatives of pharmaceutical and medic-
al device companies. Again, they don't think this is wrong. Like journalists with advertisers or
politicians with lobbyists, doctors tell themselves they're immune to influence. But we all know
they are wrong.