Abstract:
Rereading Popper’s ”The Logic of scientific discovery”, at his
120th anniversary, brings some thoughts regarding the
diagnostic process and decision making in medicine from the viewpoint of
the classical scientific method. In recent years physicians are
increasingly becoming technical experts who base their decision-making
on uniform criteria, guidelines and classifications but unfortunately
have moved away from understanding the basic concepts in the philosophy
of science. This raises an ethically and philosophically important
issue; what does a medical diagnosis mean? Is this an absolute or a
relative truth? The implications of this question are enormous in terms
of prognosis and treatment. Both patients and physicians should be
educated about the nature of the diagnostic process.
Keywords: diagnostic criteria; diagnostic process; differential
diagnosis; intent-to-treat analysis; predictive values; scientific
method