Medical science has done many wonderful things. It has prolonged
and extended life, provided cures for a wide range of diseases,
identified the cause of infectious diseases, and produced vaccines
and drugs to treat these maladies. Despite the many wonderful things
medical science has done, there can be ‘too much of a good thing’.
a One of the first implications of ‘too much faith’ in medical science
is that people have been conditioned to place “an inordinate amount
of trust in it, to an unrealistic and unsustainable extent” See (2019).
Consuming medications, undergoing treatments, embracing unproven
medical advances have taken the place of a healthy lifestyle. Instead
of making lifestyle changes, it is ‘easier’ to keep the illness in check
thru medical treatment. “The lackadaisical attitude towards the
maintenance of one’s physical health could be attributed to the
overconfidence that people have on the drug-saturated medical
paradigm that has manifested” See (2019).
a Another implication of “too much faith” in medical science is that
boundaries have been extended, technologies have been expanded,
and the call to ‘do no harm’ has been ignored to the extent that
medical science has moved beyond curing the human body of disease
and maladies but to the point of modifying it for our pleasure/ desire.
Case in point; cosmetic surgery. Humans are dissatisfied with the
current. They want new and innovative ways to enhance the body.
This comes with a financial cost as well.
a Unfortunately, patients and clinicians underestimate the harm and
overestimate the benefits of medical intervention (Mandrola, 2017).
The medical science that we rely on can’t always be trusted. As noted
by Richard Horton, editor of the Lancet, “much of the scientific
literature, perhaps half, may simply be untrue” “in their quest for
telling a compelling story, scientists too often sculpt data to fit their
preferred theory of the world.”
a To save us from ourselves, we need to be more skeptical, ask more
questions. Be slow and conservative, share the data more than the
interpretation of the data, and focus on the benefits and harms in
absolute terms (Mandrola, 2017). Medical science is good but it’s not
perfect and there is too much of a good thing.
References:
Mandrola, J. (2017, April). Want more trust in medical sciences?
embrace uncertainty and cut the hype. Latest Medical News, Clinical
Trials, Guidelines - Today on Medscape. Retrieved January 17, 2022,
from https://www.medscape.com/
See, Irwin (2019, October 9). People are placing too much faith in
medical science- do you agree? Newyorktimes.com. Retrieved January
17, 2022.
