--- In [EMAIL PROTECTED], Udhay Shankar N <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > iatrogenic = "Oops, I fscked up." >
That would be one sardonic way to look at it. Iatrogenic literally means physician-caused and nosocomial hospital-acquired. But a larger segment of iatrogenic problems are unavoidable even if the physician is perfect and medical knowledge is complete and exhaustive. Medical tests, for example, can almost never be 100% accurate; most medical tests will label a person wrongly with a small probability. Drugs, surgery, and other treatments almost always have a small probability of unwanted effects. Every visit to a physician or a hospital for a medical problem carries with it a risk of getting something "iatrogenic" even if the physician is perfect. Shyam
