The whole notion behind medicine is practicing the art of healing!
Might have started out that way back when docs were treating injuries and simple diseases, but that's not the way it's done now - it's treat the symptom, get patient out of the room, see another one, rinse repeat. Biggest evidence of this is anti-depressants - just throw a pill at the problem instead of going to the trouble of figuring out why someone has mental issues - the majority of people taking them really don't have a true mental illness, and they're treated by chemically castrating their brains, turning them into zombies who can't feel any emotions.
A good doctor needs to think for himself
We'd sure like them to, but how much problem solving can they do in the 10-15 mins most docs spend with each patient? They don't go home racking their brains thinking about how to solve individual patient issues, too many patients to deal with.
My internist has 8k patients, and he spends about 1/2 hour with them during appts. (cost is $175 cash, no insurance taken) - that gives him time for back and forth with patients, discussing possible causes and treatments - but those who do the best are those who do their own research and come prepared to talk about specific issues, cut right to the chase - makes the process more efficient, but even then potential solutions can be hard to come up with - he only treats very sick people with a few rare conditions, all of which are notoriously difficult to diagnose/treat.
But even within his practice, people like me and a few other knowledgeable friends of mine who see him too, are a rare breed - his older patients aren't computer savvy, and don't have the drive to try to find out how to recover those lost years to illness, or figure out how to stay healthy enough to get some sort of quality of life for their remaining years - they are totally dependent on him. Sitting in his IV room waiting for blood draws every 3 months confirms this as I listen to other patients discussing their problems - the lack of medical knowledge is staggering (to me), so much so that I rarely open my mouth to join the discussion(s), because anything I could add is so far above their level of understanding I'd likely just confuse them even more than they already are. I'm not saying I'm some sort of medical genius, I'm far from it - but compared to the average patient, I am, especially everything I've learned here about inflammatory issues - many thanks to those smarter folks for educating people like me!
The Thought Police: To censor and protect. Craig Bruce
