Casually? Pfft.
As with engineering there is always a certain tolerance to work within. Why should the human body be any different?
The reason there are ranges is because people are different, what might be enough for one person might not be for another of the same body weight.
The point is it completely blows out of the water your initial claim, at least for the UK.
NICE guidelines are written by panels of experts who trawl through research papers and put together more readily accessible documentation for people on the front line, who for the most part really don't have the time to spend months at a time getting the latest research into a given medicine and weighing it up against previous research any time they want to give someone a shot.
You might want to go back and read what I actually said, I didn't aim the comment at you, in fact I'm fairly certain it was aimed at your medical profession, again, if your claims about the US system are correct. Which I'm sorry to say I really doubt, since a lot of the papers that are sourced to put together NICE guidelines come from the US.
Alan, I have no interest in disputing your apparent faith in the medical profession or its "experts". Although one of the people who I trust most in that field once defined expert to me as "anyone who makes three correct guesses in a row".
Nor do I want to compare the health care systems in our respective countries as I already know the US has the best health care no one can afford.
Our opinions, our points of view just vary.
I remember (growing up) my father coming home one day from work angrier than I'd ever seen him.
Initially he would tell me what was bothering him, although through the night I'd occasionally hear him make comments like "son of bitch should have retired long ago".
the next day I asked my mother what had happened. She told me that during surgery an elderly doctor's hand had slipped and he had punctured the patient's aorta with his thumb. "And your father is particularly upset because all he said was 'whoops'", my mother told me.
"Whoops!", your dead. Doctors are human, and this is not the only horrors story I got to find out about growing up.
So take it whatever way you want. I am very careful who I place my life in the hand off.
