[Larrikin]

Doctor might not be the best example. There are tons of Facebook groups out there treating all their diseases with crystals and a bit of WebMD. Had to sit an extra 20 minutes at the dentist just this week because some lady refused the XRay and was lecturing the staff and then the dentist about how they should be able to figure out her problem with just their eyes.

[sandworm101]

Yup. I know a guy who refused a filling because he didn't want "forever chemicals" put in his mouth.

[torstenvl]

It's also a bad example because most doctors people encounter are overworked, on a budget, and not very smart,* which means they're very frequently wrong.

Assuming the patient is as intelligent as the average on HN, and motivated about their health, they may well be able to learn more about what's going on with their health in the month it takes to get an appointment than the doctor will in the ten minutes they spend with you.

(* Because most people who live in cities, and most people who go into primary care in cities do so because they weren't competitive enough for one of the more interesting and lucrative specialties. It's a similar dynamic as to why most people in the tech industry that people encounter—IT help desk reps—are not usually the cream of the crop.)

[jrd259]

This is an insult to the doctors I know who deliberately chose to do primary care because they were more motivated by service than money or prestige. For that matter, I know a developer who chose to work in IT support for a cancer research center because he put more value on helping to cure cancer than making more money. There actually are people out there who value service to the community more than fame or fortune. They deserve praise, not scorn.

[torstenvl]

It isn't an insult to anyone. I very clearly said "most" and "usually." We also have excellent IT support, done by developers, because we specifically negotiated for it. They are excellent. But we specifically included that in the contract because it is an inarguable, objective fact that most IT help desk support is not staffed with the most skilled people in the tech industry.

Unfortunately, the kind of sacrifice and selflessness you describe is not the norm in our society. As a result, the dynamic I articulated holds for "most"—just like I said.

Your post is deliberately dishonest in its characterization of what I said, and excessively hostile. That kind of behavior is not consistent with the community norms on HN. I urge you to reconsider how you interact with people here.