History doesn’t repeat itself,……but it does offer insights as to what might happen if we choose to do “X” rather than “Y”. Timothy Snyder writes with learned and earned power, his concise book of essays ‘Tyranny’ is a brief history book worth considering.
He’s awfully concerned with our collective disregard of thoughtful study of the past, be it three years or three millennia. He loathes social media and explains why, compellingly so.
Quality improvement is History in the sense we track what happened, discuss what and why, weigh options, and hope for reasoned consensus dealing with the present. Consensus isn’t science, and science isn’t consensus,…….witness our COVID-19 controversies.
We might use science trying to achieve consensus,……but be ever-vigilant,……as soon as the word ‘consensus’ is used, we are not dealing solely with science.
What has happened after wide adoption of the “39 Week Rule”?,……..Pilliod et al deliver a fine display of documented history (attached),…..very slightly more stillbirths, very slightly fewer neonatal deaths.
Can and should children consent themselves for vaccines? Well, as Morgan et al review briefly, this will largely be a matter of consensus, not science (attached).
Mr. Snyder agrees with Jacques Barzun – History can familiarize, it can warn,…….but pragmatists [the true meaning of pragmatic] have difficulty successfully competing with the passion of idealogues.
Truth can rarely be separated from power,……a central history lesson of the past 100 years.
Joe Kaempf, MD
Oregon Representative
Portland, OR
Volume 13, Number 32