You need to know this: doctors and patients
Two very different diagnoses can occur, when a patient goes to the doctor’s office, even though in both cases, he has the exact same symptoms.
SITUATION ONE: The patient has a slight fever, cough, feels fatigued, has a bit of lung congestion. The doctor tells him he has the flu, seasonal flu, he should stay home from work, rest, and in a few days he should feel better. The doctor runs no tests.
SITUATION TWO: Same patient, same symptoms, different visit to the doctor. Now the social and political and medical climate in the country is quite different. Health agencies have proclaimed there is an outbreak of Disease Q, which is spreading rapidly, has already caused deaths, and the CDC and the WHO are keeping a close watch on it, and could, any day, declare a Global Emergency. Disease Q has also been discovered in several other countries. Spain, Germany, the Congo. The cause is the Qvirus, from the corona family.
The doctor listens carefully as the patient mentions his symptoms. The doctor says, “These could be indications you have Disease Q. I want to make sure. We’ll take pictures of your lungs and run a test for the virus.”
The patient says, “What happens if the test is positive?”
The doctor says, “Well, currently, with what you’re presenting, there’s no need to send you to the hospital. You’ll stay home from work, isolated from the rest of your family. I’ll give you medication to neutralize the virus. When you eventually test negative, you can go back to work. We need to be careful about this. Disease Q is very serious…”
SAME PATIENT. EXACTLY THE SAME SYMPTOMS. TWO COMPLETELY DIFFERENT MEDICAL APPROACHES.
So now this patient has to come to a few decisions—if he’s in Situation Two. These decisions depend on his level of understanding and knowledge about tests, viruses, official declarations of Emergency, propaganda.
Not only knowledge—but does he accept and believe that knowledge, or does he, in the heat of the moment, side with his doctor, or with independent researchers?