Adri (:

“not only do all human beings err, but they err frequently and in predictable, patterned ways.”
― Atul Gawande, Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science

“Medicine’s ground state is uncertainty. And wisdom—for both patients and doctors—is defined by how one copes with it. This”
― Atul Gawande, Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science

“We look for medicine to be an orderly field of knowledge and procedure. But it is not. It is an imperfect science, an enterprise of constantly changing knowledge, uncertain information, fallible individuals, and at the same time lives on the line. There is science in what we do, yes, but also habit, intuition, and sometimes plain old guessing. The gap between what we know and what we aim for persists. And this gap complicates everything we do.”
― Atul Gawande, Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science

“One wants to know whether, in the end, her troubles were physical or psychological. But it is a question as impossible to answer as whether a blush is physical or mental—or, for that matter, whether a person is. Everyone is both, inseparable even by a surgeon’s blade.”
― Atul Gawande, Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science