Claude Bernard, an opponent of the statistical method, provides two main compelling arguments to why it should not be the sole source of medical evidence. First, he maintains that facts in statistics are often “reduced to comparable units” which is “very often not the case in medicine.” By this, he means that every patient is unique, which entails that medical practitioners apply an individualised healing approach rather than a comparable one in which all patients showing similar signs are treated in the same way. Bernard proves his assumption by mentioning that the results of statistics are probabilities and not certain numbers because there must be some variability in conditions or participants at some point. He concludes his first argument by stating that statistics cannot demonstrate “the mode of action of medicine nor the mechanics of
Claude Bernard, an opponent of the statistical method, provides two main compelling arguments to why it should not be the sole source of medical evidence. First, he maintains that facts in statistics are often “reduced to comparable units” which is “very often not the case in medicine.” By this, he means that every patient is unique, which entails that medical practitioners apply an individualised healing approach rather than a comparable one in which all patients showing similar signs are treated in the same way. Bernard proves his assumption by mentioning that the results of statistics are probabilities and not certain numbers because there must be some variability in conditions or participants at some point. He concludes his first argument by stating that statistics cannot demonstrate “the mode of action of medicine nor the mechanics of