[DanBC]

One of the most important questions you can ask of a doctor is "what happens if we do nothing?"

[tsotha]

That works for treatment, but not so much for tests. If you don't know what's going on you don't know what happens if you don't do anything.

[wfunction]

Doctors order tests to help them choose the right treatments.

If they have absolutely no idea what the possibilities are then they wouldn't be ordering tests anyway.

[tsotha]

>Doctors order tests to help them choose the right treatments.

No they don't, except in very rare cases. Doctors order tests to make a diagnosis. The treatment follows from that.

>If they have absolutely no idea what the possibilities are then they wouldn't be ordering tests anyway.

I'm not sure a doctor would have "no idea what the possibilities are" unless you don't have any symptoms. If you don't have any symptoms, why are you at the doctor's office?

[wfunction]

> > Doctors order tests to help them choose the right treatments. > No they don't, except in very rare cases. Doctors order tests to make a diagnosis. The treatment follows from that.

What I said didn't contract what you said. If test => diagnosis => treatment then test => treatment.

[tsotha]

Without a diagnosis, how could a doctor possibly know the answer to the question "what happens if we do nothing"?

[wfunction]

I never said without a diagnosis.