[ChadNauseam]

this is part of the mindset had by doctors that makes some people want to “do their own research” rather than trust their physician. A medical intervention has to have positive expected value for it to be a good idea, and figuring out the expected value has to involve some quantification of risks. If doctors don’t want to do that because they could get sued if they don’t give a maximally accurate estimate and producing a maximally correct estimate would be too much work, then fine, it’s a free country and I don’t want to make doctors do anything they don’t feel like doing, but they are creating a situation where parents who want to figure out if something is a good idea have no choice but to start googling things themselves.

I’ve undergone some surgeries that were not without risks and every time, i’ve been stonewalled by doctors when asking for basic information like “in your personal practice, what is the success rate for this surgery?”. Always something like “Oh, everyone is different, so there’s no way to give any estimates.” The only options are, either they have some estimate they think is accurate enough that they’re comfortable recommending the surgery but they won’t tell me (in which case they’re denying me useful information for their own benefit), or they have no idea and are recommending the surgery for some other reason (a very concerning possibility lol). Either way, it instantly makes our relationship adversarial to some extent, and means I need to do my own research if I want to be able to make an informed decision.