ABSTRACT
Medicine is a noble profession. Those who devote their life's energy to the practice of medicine provide service to humanity, and their efforts are honorable. The origins of early medicine were based largely on superstition; diseases were sometimes considered punishment for sins, or attributed to an imbalance of humors. In the last century, developments in science have led to an understanding of many diseases at the genetic, molecular, and cellular levels. Our cognitive skills suffer from fatigue, emotions, circadian cycles, and limited recall. Our diagnostic tools are imperfect; even our best tests have less than perfect diagnostic performance. Our diagnostic processes often require numerous steps, all with some failure rate. And there is one fact that is simply beyond our control—the reality that biological systems have variable expressions of disease that makes our efforts all the more difficult. All the good of modern healthcare is not the less for our labor.
