People can sometimes be so strange.
I once knew a man who specialized in probabilities. He was especially interested in the background probabilities of certain phenomena, such as the background probability of getting a rare disease versus a much more common disease.
He was an expert on such matters.
And yet, when it came to his own health, he totally failed to put any of his expertise to work.
He had an internist that he really trusted, so when this doctor told him that he had a rare disease – let’s call it Disease D – he believed him. Despite the fact that he had not one, but two brothers-in-law who were doctors, despite his wife’s pleading and begging, he refused to get a second opinion.
On his doctor’s instructions, he had his spleen removed. This was because the doctor told my friend that it was the best way of treating Disease D.
My friend complied.
Now, as most of you know, the spleen is part of the immune system. You really don’t want to remove a perfectly healthy spleen unless you have a very good reason to do so. Again, my friend refused to get a second opinion before the operation was performed.
Unfortunately, my friend got sicker and sicker. Finally, he did go to see another doctor, who informed him that he had leukemia.
Of course, it was too late to do anything about it, and my friend died.
It was a tragedy for himself and his family.
I’ve never forgotten his untimely death, because it was so preventable.
Why would a person with his expertise not use it to help himself?
People can sometimes be so strange.
