You're right, Chris. Medical science in general, and doctors in particular, still have a long way to go. Hard to believe in this day and age, so much still needs to be discovered and understood. Medical achievements have come so far, but there is still so much farther to go.

I had 6 nephews, but 3 of them have died -- that's 50% mortality rate. I found out in one month back in 1986 that the three of them were terminally ill.

The one nephew died at 6 years old of brain cancer -- medulla blastoma -- they operated, but could not remove all the cancer -- it was on his brain stem.

Two other nephews were hemophiliacs who received tainted blood as teenagers. They died of AIDS in a few more years. The hemophilia didn't kill them, but the treatment did.

Science has yet to cure a virus. They can cure bacterial infections, but not viruses.

And to top it all off, my brother died less than 48 hours after our nephew who died of brain cancer -- an overdose of sleeping pills. Depression? Forgetfulness of how many pills he had already taken? Who knows? He too was just as terminally ill as my nephews and the doctors did not recognize that and did nothing for him either, except to prescribe more pills for him.

There is still so much to learn and to understand...in all sciences.

Barbara