[buffalobuffalo]

I guess that's objectively worse since it results in false negatives as opposed to false positives. But personally I think it stings a bit more to get tricked into procedures you don't actually need.

It's genuinely hard to identify dishonest practitioners. I think the best solution might be to convince the insurance companies to pay for second opinions. And then only to pay for the procedure if the two diagnoses agree. But I guess that's a tall ask.

[recursive]

How many false positives are worth a false negative? I don't know the answer, but I don't think it's 'infinitely many'.

[randerson]

Or separate diagnosis from treatment. I'd like to go to one dentist who gets paid a flat fee to look at my mouth and identify problems, and then choose another dentist who can fix the problem. That way no dentist has the incentive to lie.