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No human, no matter who it is, should be fully trusted. Let's face it none of us is perfect. Considering what happened to the only Man who was perfect, I for one prefer non-perfection.

First, we must all accept the fact that doctors are human. Humans make mistakes. Most of us, doctors included, do not intend to make mistakes, but we are by design fallible.

Second, doctors do not have ESP. They make their diagnosis based on information given them by the patient; if the patient is less than 100% honest, the doctor can and probably will make the wrong diagnosis, leading to the wrong procedure to fix the problem.

Unfortunately, Gregory House does not exist in the real world. Real doctors, unlike House, actually believe what their patients tell them and treat according to that information. So, if we are not going to be honest patients, we have no right to expect doctor's to be right all the time. Yes, there are horror stories of people having the wrong limb amputated, or some completely unnecessary procedure done. If you are one of these unfortunate people I ask that you refer to the second paragraph of this article.

If you find yourself in a situation where you are facing a serious health problem, the best advise is to always get a second opinion. It is good advice, but quite often can not be followed. If your medical insurance is like most, it takes an act of Congress to get them to pay for a second opinion. HMOs may have started out as a good idea, but something was lost along the way. Doctor's today not only have to face being human, they have to deal with health insurance companies that appear less and less human the longer they exist.

Maybe we should go back to the barter system. You do something for me, and I will do something of equal value for you. If we were able to pay doctors by giving them food, and that was their only way to get food, and the amount of food they received was based on the accuracy of their treatment, they would be more inclined to get it right the first time.

These days doctor's are limited in what they can and can't do. Very often it is not by their choice. Medical insurance companies want to keep their costs down, therefore they, not the doctors, decide what is and isn't necessary treatment. Often times what the insurance companies feel is necessary and what the doctor feels in necessary is two entirely different things. Perhaps, it isn't the doctors who can not be trusted but the insurance companies.

Learn more about this author, Dorothy Jo Bourbeau.
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