“A Doctor is never wrong”

It’s been a long time since I penned down something and now am dealing with a controversial thought. When I say it I mean it that a doctor is never wrong, he/she is always “less right”.

Research has always given powerful tools to the practicing doctor fight infections, cancers but also has given him the “RIGHT” to be “RIGHT”.  With pharma companies driving the results of many meta-analysis and major research studying the beneficial effects of a particular research/procedure, there is ample evidence for and against the same technique/drug. So basically when a doctor prescribes you a drug/surgical procedure and you do not benefit from it (or potentially get harm from it), u can’t blame him, because he was less right and he had evidence that his drug works. You have guidelines based on solid research and expert reviews but “they don’t understand our scenario, my experience says…blah blah and so I don’t follow guidelines”. 

Basically I am “not wrong”.

Lets face it no agrees to be proven wrong, be it the friendly autowallah who breaks the signal or the dare-devil biker who flaunts traffic laws and even our own chosen politicians. When Mr Arvind Kejriwal held a dharna after becoming the CM, everyone pounced upon him, but he showed “evidence” that there is “no rule which says that a CM cant protest on roads”. Well, he was right and so are we as medical practitioners.

Expert reviews are a part of guidelines but they provide the least evidence and are given importance when there is no solid proof. But I am sure every doctor would have their own expert opinion on every health problem and follow their own guidelines. More senior the doctor, more rigid their approach (no offense). When I say that the success rate of a particular procedure is 95% compared to the one prescribed by you (50%), you get offended even though I give you ample scientific literature to support my claim. Well experience does matter a lot but science is a dynamic field and things change and we have to change with it.

Who is to say that I won’t be rigid in my approach when I gain some “GREY HAIR” or lose some “GRAY CELLS” like some of my older colleagues? But even then I would say I am “not wrong” I am just “less right”.