Knowledge in Medicine
The question is then, what role should a doctor plays? or the Chinese physician plays?
In clinical practise, i always come across patient checking on some special remedies to find out whether they should continue to use them despite you prescribe the specify medicine for them. I believe doctors also face the same dilemma. Many a times when the illness does subside, which particular medicated formula actually work, no body actually care, however when the illness become worse, the last prescription will always take the blame, not knowing that our body was actually being torture by the amount alien supplements which we are taking and the worsening of the illness was just a symtomic appearance of an last straw on the camel back.
Some how as I learn more about medicinal cure through my study in TCM, i come to agreed with some of my teachers that while knowledge and experience play a significant role in being a good health care worker, luck play a vital role too. You can not stop these "intelligence patients" going around gathering the special formula to cure themselves before they come to see you, you can only hope that while they are gathering those medicine, they have the wisdom to check and be sure that it doesn't make their body worse before they come to see you.
Just a thought.. thinking aloud