[bshep]

Oh completely agree, there is no ‘one size-fits-all’ solution, my point is that a checklist based approach would cover most cases, and for the rest you can take a different approach.

Also just in case you are ever sick, you NEVER want to hear the words ‘oh that’s interesting’ or ‘you are an interesting case’... there are a lot of rare diseases of which there are maybe 10 cases reported in the medicine books, and sure your doc can diagnose it but there may be no good treatment options ( since there is so little data all the accepted treatments are just guesses ).

In any case, if I’M ever sick i hope i fit the checklist, at least i know the diagnosis and treatment is well known and defined.

Edited to add: regarding hospice care, i wish this was more widely understood by non-medical people. I see so many people suffer unnecessarily because they don’t understand or their families refuse to understand. I cant speak about specific cases but I can say that some doctors have a gift of guiding their patients and some dont, and even the good one sometimes cant get through.

This is as you say a systemic problem and I dont have a good answer as to how to address it.