[tomohawk]

When treating a patient, using the results of a study is a good starting point, but it may really have nothing to do with treating the specific patient. The patient may fall outside of the distribution of normal occurrences, as indicated by the study. They may be an outlier.

This is one reason why medicine is challenging - you're not treating a population, you're treating a patient.

If you are the patient, you want the doctor who is guided by science, but also not blinded by "well, the studies say to do X, but that's not working. I guess there's nothing I can do for you".

In my case, I had my tonsils removed as an adult and it is one of the best medical decisions I've ever made. Prior, I had all kinds of health problems. They are now gone, and while I used to get sick a few times a year to the extent of missing work, that no longer happens.

[zaarn]

While I generally agree, treating a patient is also not as simple. For example, I never had my tonsils removed and in the past 5 years I have not been sick a single time. Plus, this doesn't invalidate the study itself, as the results merely lay out a chance, the probability that you will suffer long term effects.

People can smoke cigarettes their entire life and never get lung cancer or they smoke once and get a diagnosis for lung cancer next year.