Chaos Program

Should doctors be more than medical technicians?

I’ve thought of this question several times in the last few years, most recently in connection with two emergency room visits for my mother. She complained of (among other things) a very bad headache. Early on, one doctor ordered a ct scan of her head to see if there was maybe a tumor or something to explain the headache. The ct scan showed nothing out of the ordinary.

Here’s the bit that made me start wondering about doctor education, or intelligence or something: When the ct scan came back clean, the doctors then proceeded to completely ignore the headache. It was as if, when the test showed nothing, the problem simply ceased to exist.

This is the way not-very-skilled technicians operate. People who, in the IT field (my field) would be level 1 help desk and who would probably never progress beyond that level. Example (a real one):

Me: “I have a problem with my internet connection.”
Tech support: “I’ll test the line.” (pause) “The line is fine.”
Me: “Okay but I keep losing my connection.”
Tech support: “Restart your modem and check that it’s plugged in correctly.”
Me: “I did that. The modem is fine. There’s something wrong with the connection.”
Tech support: “I’m sorry sir but the line is clean. You need to check your modem.”
Me: “Aaaaaaaaauuuugggggghhhh!”

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