Top Down Mandates Not Good Medicine

I have been away from the SL a couple weeks, but this article in today's WSJ Opinion Journal caught my eye. Largely, it jumped out at me because it addresses an area that as a physician I wrestle with every day. That is applying scientific evidence to the unique needs of individual patients.

According to authors Dr. Jerome Groopman and Dr. Pamela Hartzband, "... a good doctor exercises sound clinical judgment by consulting expert guidelines and assessing ongoing research, but then decides what is quality care for the individual patient. And what is best sometimes deviates from the norms."

Like most areas of life one size does not fit all which is precisely why centralized management of an industry (or a profession) is rarely a good idea. It is also why I do not expect to be replaced by a computer any time soon.