We're often cautioned not to think of doctors as something like gods. But they do hold the power of life and death over us in extreme cases.
And one member of the fraternity points out just how much can go wrong, in the book Snowball in a Blizzard.
Dr. Steven Hatch says admitting the murkiness in both diagnosis and prognosis can go a long way to improving health decisions by doctor and patient. Dr. Hatch teaches at a medical school in Massachusetts; he joins us by phone.