In an era of uncertainty, who decides?
We appear to be entering an era of uncertainty, where once again we realize that the practice of medicine is an art, not a science.
While doctors may carry scientific tomes in their heads and engineering marvels on and around their persons (although surprisingly few computers to date), the clinical practice of medicine is being rediscovered as an art, not a cookbook science. As new studies challenge the existing metrics evaluating risk through a black/ white approach dedicated to lowering intermediate clinical markers (see cholesterol for the otherwise low risk patient, glucose for Type 2 diabetics, BMI for the overweight, quantity of bloodborn “humors” to be released by lancet, etc)
Big lesson: Lower does not mean better
So, as we find out that cookbook medicine may actually be harmful in addition to being expensive, we have the same issue that is currently cracking the mortgage industry: evaluating and managing risk is hard and replacing underwriting with automation and customer service reps leads to problems when real judgment is required.
