[extropy-chat] Are vaccinations useless?

[Robin Hanson]

At 12:48 AM 3/20/2006, Jeff Medina wrote:
> > > worthwhile.  You don't mean to suggest that all, or nearly all, of the
> > > treatments suggested by doctors are backed up by RCTs, do you?  Or
> >
> > Why not?  It's what I'd have expected, and it's exactly what Rafal says:
>
>... If your & Rafal's view is right and the majority of medical practice
>is backed up by well-done RCTs, why are so many scholars &
>institutions talking about and working on [evidence-based medicine]
>like it's something new; something that isn't done enough, ...

Let me confirm that the majority of medical practice is *not* now
backed up by well-done RCT.   An easy test:  the next time your doc
advices some treatment, ask him for the RCT that backs it up.
If he gives you a RCT, look to see how well done it is and how
relevant it is to your situation.




Robin Hanson  rhanson at gmu.edu  http://hanson.gmu.edu
Associate Professor of Economics, George Mason University
MSN 1D3, Carow Hall, Fairfax VA 22030-4444
703-993-2326  FAX: 703-993-2323