ABSTRACT
In 1961 Daniel Schwartz, a statistician studying the relationship between tobacco and cancer for the INH—the French medical research agency—wrote a popular paper on ‘The Statistical Method in Medicine’ published in a journal widely circulated within the medical profession. Schwartz scorned French physicians who thought that statistics had little to do with medical knowledge:
The reasons explaining this backwardness are diverse. France is a leading country in pure mathematics. As a consequence applied mathematics have been neglected. The statistical method emerged in the ‘Anglo-Saxon’ countries and slowly penetrated our country.
Our peculiar frame of mind as well as our education system favor the mathematics of certainty and not the mathematics of probability. The latter prevails in all aspects of life and in decision-making processes but they are never taught…
On top of cognitive patterns, cultural traits may well have played a part in the disdain for statistics. French people are highly individualistic … This behavior dominates the medical world. The French doctor is a very good clinician and an outstanding care provider. In his perception, every patient is an individual rather than a figure in a table … These values are highly recommended in medical practice but the price paid for their supremacy is a farfetched emphasis on the individual in scientific research.
This standing is not inescapable. It is true that respect is due to the special relationship between a patient and his doctor. But it is not true that this respect should result in one-case statistics. [Schwratz, 1962, p. 1920]
