Does this make it fine not to expect a doctor to inspect the list of known side effects for drugs his patients are taking?
I've heard this very story a few times already, perhaps the sources of data widely accepted by doctors are not up to par with what non-doctors consider as accurate, in some cases anyway.
Absolutely the accuracy of doctors should be improved, but the bar is not "are you as good as a UCSF resident?" (one of the best programs nationally) but "are you better than nothing?"
It just seems crazy to me to suggest that the median doctor, i.e. at least half, is worthless.
I have similar crappy experiences like most people here, and tended to hate all medical personnel uniformly. Then I started dating a young doctor - still can't wrap my head around how overworked over-stressed and underpaid piece of shit work that is.
Bear in mind that we're talking about biggest university hospital in Switzerland. Working ridiculous amount of hours (normal shift can be 10-13 hours, overtime unpaid), night shifts that will just mess you up mentally, crazy and dangerous patients, drug addicts, very real danger of contracting stuff like HIV or hepatititis C by single tiny mistake, or actually killing somebody by overlooking some tiny fact about N-th patient that night. You can end your career for life and end up in jail and/or with lifelong debt by one mistake. ONE. Even after directly saving life of 500 other people.
Compared to my comfy corporate job, where I earn much more, did get mistake or two in production over last 5 years (nothing critical like making loss, but still), well... We should be thankful that anybody clever is actually still doing that job. Most of them could earn more and have actually a life someplace else. Blame how system is setup much more than individuals forced to exist in it.