I agree with Razib as well. The medical establishment is really a sham for those of us who read research papers on our own, and who don’t need a middle man to interpret what’s best for us (which often is not what is best for us). With the rapid pace of research, most medical textbooks get outdated very quickly. But these are still the same textbooks that doctors use to get their degrees.
And this is the first time I’ve ever seen Razib visibly angry (over 4 years of reading his blog), so it clearly means a lot.
By the way, does anyone have any more information about the Personal Genome Project? I got recruited as part of the 1k cohort back last October, but I still haven’t heard anything back from them.
And does anyone know how I could get a MRI for as cheap as possible? (i tried doing clinical research, but they won’t give me the results of the MRI)
You are overestimating the value of research and underestimating the value of experience/clinical teaching. There is a huge difference in medical understanding between a graduate of the 2nd year of medical school (when the textbook learning is mostly done) and an MD (6000 clinical hours). There is another huge leap in knowledge/judgment obtained in residency (another 10,000+ hours) - and after.
It obviously depends on what questions you are talking about—but be careful overestimating the value of research/textbooks in medical knowledge. There’s a lot more than just that. Of course, none of this applies to genomics; that’s not an area where doctors actually have much experience, and a well-read individual might well be better off in interpreting their own data. There are not really many doctors interested in restricting patient access to genomic data—this is the FDA at work. Different beast.
I agree with Razib as well. The medical establishment is really a sham for those of us who read research papers on our own, and who don’t need a middle man to interpret what’s best for us (which often is not what is best for us). With the rapid pace of research, most medical textbooks get outdated very quickly. But these are still the same textbooks that doctors use to get their degrees.
And this is the first time I’ve ever seen Razib visibly angry (over 4 years of reading his blog), so it clearly means a lot.
By the way, does anyone have any more information about the Personal Genome Project? I got recruited as part of the 1k cohort back last October, but I still haven’t heard anything back from them.
And does anyone know how I could get a MRI for as cheap as possible? (i tried doing clinical research, but they won’t give me the results of the MRI)
You are overestimating the value of research and underestimating the value of experience/clinical teaching. There is a huge difference in medical understanding between a graduate of the 2nd year of medical school (when the textbook learning is mostly done) and an MD (6000 clinical hours). There is another huge leap in knowledge/judgment obtained in residency (another 10,000+ hours) - and after.
It obviously depends on what questions you are talking about—but be careful overestimating the value of research/textbooks in medical knowledge. There’s a lot more than just that. Of course, none of this applies to genomics; that’s not an area where doctors actually have much experience, and a well-read individual might well be better off in interpreting their own data. There are not really many doctors interested in restricting patient access to genomic data—this is the FDA at work. Different beast.
re: MRI’s: where do you live?