It's easier to be ignorant than to learn

Perhaps you can tell one of my favorite quotes is: "It's easier to remain ignorant that to take the time to educate yourself." I don't know who came up with it, but there's a heck of a lot of truth to it.

This quote explains a lot, such as why:

1. Many pediatricians, including our own, still have a 100% non-rebreather mask on standby for each birth, despite all the evidence that too much oxygen can significantly increase the risk of cancer for even term babies later in life.


2. Too many physicians still believe in the hypoxic drive theory despite ample evidence to the contrary and prefer to allow their patients suffer from hypoxia.


3. Many nurses and physicians think a bronchodilator is the cure for anything that wheezes or for anything that causes shortness of breath, when the truth is this is not even close to the truth.

We'll stop there lest I get into trouble. I thought about delving into politics there, but I'll leave that to you guys.

I'm not necessarily questioning the intelligence of anyone, merely suggesting that effort can make even the most intelligent person wiser. Or, even the most intelligent among us can do stupid things. Or, even the best doctors and nurses can still believe in false wisdom. Or, even the most intelligent and best doctors among us can still write stupid doctor orders, as we see nearly every day in the medical field.

Either way, a wise person isn't necessarily the most intelligent person, but the one who takes the time to obtain as many facts as possible and gives and allows these facts to take precedence over old, antiquated wisdom. He also knows the difference between fallacy and fiction.

Or something like that.