There’s nothing about what I wrote that is “talking down” to anyone. Simply being real, and made that very clear.
An infectious disease doctor’s qualifications regarding Covid insights definitely trump a 7-11 clerk’s, or an electrician’s or a talk show host or whichever non-medical professional you prefer in an example.
If you choose to look for offense and already have a predetermined view of the speaker, you’ll definitely find it… and bingo, you did!
There is a long history of scholarship in the "History of Science" and "Sociology of Medicine" to draw from that would argue that:
A. Politics is inherent in both science and medicine;
B. Scientist and Medical Doctors get stuck in paradigms finding it very difficult to think outside of them;
C. Money infuses both science and medicine creating bias;
D. Physicians and scientist are hardly a monolith in their opinions;
E. Medicine isn't anywhere near as cut and dry as many make it out as;
F. Diagnosis and treatment is as much an art form as science; and
G. Medicine doesn't always "follow the science."
I've told this story on here before, but is worthwhile to revisit it. Last summer my 19 year old son, who was in perfect health, and had just come home from Utah, went into septic shock. In the morning he woke up with an enlarged lymph node on the front of his thigh, was afebrile, in some pain, but otherwise was feeling fine. By 11:00PM he was in septic shock, with a blood pressure of 63 over 32 and a lactic acid of 15 (meaning a life threatening infection) and was dehydrated. The first two diagnosis were ruled out with Cat scan and MRI. That left an infection of unknown origin. He was given over 75 tests with no positive tests to figure out what caused the infection. For the 4 days he spent in the ICU the head of ICU and his team thought it was viral, while the infectious disease team thought it was bacterial. The gave him a boatload of antibiotics, treated his dehydration and gave him one course of pressors for his blood pressure.
They never figured out what it was, whether it was viral or bacterial, so if the antibiotics did anything to help. One antibiotic turns out he was allergic too, so that made things worse for a while.
There were some humorous conversations:
Infectious Disease Doctor: Did you get bit by a prairie dog? (this was the third time they asked so my son was a little over it)
My son: What does a prairie dog look like?
IDD: I don't know.....
My son: (pulls out his phone and googles it) Shows a picture of it to the doctor and says..........I think I would have remembered getting bit by that................
IDD: hmmmm, so that is what it looks like.........
IDD: We are testing him for bubonic plague
ME: Are there any other middle ages diseases you can test him for?
IDD: No........really there are 5-10 cases of BB out West a year.
ME: Who knew???????
IDD: Me..........
Nurse: He has lost some weight
ME: Yea......he can't afford to lose weight (he is really skinny)
Nurse: Is he anorexic?
ME: No, hospital food sucks.............
Anyway.....................having studied and taught classes in history of science and sociology of medicine, and having worked in hospitals, I understand that doctors aren't always right, medicine isn't always scientific, politics and $$$$ are always present, diagnosis isn't always clear, lots of disagreement happens, and loved ones/the public isn't always told exactly what is going on.
Just my two cents worth..................