See my answer to Ha. It's ok to disagree, ERD50
Are we disagreeing about anything? I didn't think so. I thought we were just discussing how anyone would know that the 'accepted protocols' actually reflect the best practices for the patient.
Ha - these are documents that may be hammered out by committees, but these documents also protect me and my license in a court of law and in front of my peers. I do not practice medicine to include popular or unpopular evidence in it, just what protects my patients and my license. I know this sounds strange, but that the state of today's medicine we are in.
Like all clinicians, I have a license to protect. Therefore I must practice defensible medicine first.
Mostly echoing haha again here, but it does
not sound strange to me. I understand that you have a licence to protect, and as a boss of mine often said (when I was being my usual stubborn self) -
'"Sometimes it's better to be wrong together, than to be right all alone" (and I bet he thought I wasn't listening!).
But it doesn't answer the question. It sounds like you are saying that I shouldn't question my Doctor on this, he/she will follow the 'party line', and I should just go along blindly. Sorry, I'm not wired that way. Personally, I think it is a little sad that someone who puts forth all the time and effort on the education it requires to become a Doctor, seems so unwilling to use that intelligence and gained knowledge to question the status quo.
I suppose this is the same as an electrician/carpenter who must follow building codes on the job, even though he may know with certainty when an alternative may be just as good/safe or even better than the published code. But somehow, I don't think of Doctors on the same level as electricians/carpenters. Maybe I should?
I guess you are saying - that is left up to the researches, and the General Practitioner just does as they are told? But this still seems odd, because not every Doctor has the same opinions on treatments.
More to the point of the OP, I guess I'm still confused as to whether Statins merely 'improve the numbers', or if there is a clear association with better outcomes for the patient.
-ERD50