Neural Gourmet Archives | Feed Your Brain
Neural Gourmet Archives | Feed Your BrainYou have to read this post by Orac at Respectful Insolence looking at the alarming number of doctors and med students who reject evolution:
Biologists and other strong opponents of ID often express puzzlement or disbelief that so many doctors could be so ambivalent about ID or even downright sympathetic to it. To them the fact that so many physicians have such a poor understanding of evolutionary biology is hard to swallow. Perhaps this is where I can help the science-minded out there who read my blog. Even though I straddle two worlds, the world of the clinical surgeon and the world of the practicing physician, sometimes I don't udnerstand how so many physicians can be so easily seduced by this pseudoscience. Nonetheless, I'll give it a shot at explaining some of the reasons why this may be so.
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Orac's post yet. I'm sickly, so I need medical care, and even surgery at times. It's easier to consult doctors when I don't think about the level of reason and logic most doctors possess.
Although one needs a science background to go to medical school, medicine is not a science. Medical research is too often a joke. Doctors know how to diagnose, but they apparently receive no training on how to design a decent experimental study. While not all doctors conduct research, this lack of understanding comes out in the consultation room. Maybe I've just been extremely unlucky, so I'm biased. I hope that's the case.
Bah, I can't even discuss it. It's too infuriating.
My health started to fall apart in my sophomore year of college and other than a few months of good health here and there over the past twenty years it has pretty much been downhill. If I even suspected that a doctor I was seeing was a young earth creationist (YEC) I have to admit I'd lose a lot of respect for her/him and I'm not sure I could continue seeing them. I know that's sort of silly if they've been doing what I perceived as good patient care beforehand, but there it is. We're in such a vulnerable position when we're being treated for our illnesses that just knowing my doctor, if not entirely superstition free, at least knew, understood and accepted the basic tenets of modern biological science.
As an aside, I was considering bariatric surgery a couple of years ago. Part of that process involves a psych eval and attending a support group every week (because of the enormous lifestyle changes one must make to have the surgery, as well as accompanying depression, etc.). The psychologist I saw was very nice, and I thought if I ever needed a therapist to help me get through a rough patch then this would be the one.
At least until the end of the interview when she asked if I had started attending the support group yet. I said no, because I had not received the info packet yet but. The psychologist then said, in a very concerned voice, "I see from your survey sheet that you're an atheist." Oh oh! Warning bells went off. I said yes, that I have no belief in any gods. She then replied that her concern was that the support group was faith based and "there's a lot of praying that goes on and appeals to the Lord for strength, but if you can put aside your personal religious beliefs I think you'll get a lot out of it." 
I didn't have the surgery, mainly because I did not like the condescending tone of the doctor who ran the program and after researching the surgery felt that the risks were too great. However, I've got to admit that psych consult scared me -- a lot.
