And to extend your analogy, instead of the grandmother talking to a helpful expert, all the information they are given comes from BitCoin salesmen, and she's expected to "do her own research."

"What's and adblocker" - my Grandma.

Well, you know a phone book? And, you know how if you want to phone someone, you tend to look up their number in a phone book?

"Yes"

Well, computers are the same. They only know numbers, they're computers after all, and DNS maps the names you see for websites, to numbers, so computers can find the website.

"Uh, OK"

The adblocker I am going to install, makes it impossible for the computer to see the numbers for advetisers. It can't find them in its phone book any more. So, no ads!

Now grandma understands how DNS works, and what some adblockers do.

Some things are not as technically complex as we think they are.

I had a sugery for a common issue performed, as it happens, by the ex head of some surgeons union type organisation in my country (Ireland). The established technique has an uncommon but not so uncommon tendency to have issues where you just dont heal properly. I was unlucky and I didn't heal. I spent a year being tended by various nurses and reviews etc etc and when I finally started to research it myself I found there was a new far better surgical method available, but the guy who did my surgery was old and hadn't kept up to date. I found a surgeon who specialised in the new method and I was fully healed and done forever in a couple of months.

They might be an expert, but it's your (literal) skin in the game.

This is such a silly metaphor I am going to ignore it and answer the initial question.

Why? Because the things I personally value in my life and health are not always aligned with the things doctors try to optimize for.

I’ve told the story here a number of times but my tonsils swelled up to the size of grapefruit a number of years ago. After 6 months of steroids and having them drained I wanted them removed. My doctor did not think it was necessary, even though I was living in misery. I ended up just going to a doctor about an hour away and had them out within the week.

Not everything is “fixable” in health and sometimes this means that there isn’t one “right” choice for treatment. Involving the patient in the decision making process is important because people have preferences for what is right for them and their life and the doctor can act as a well informed partner in care.

I have multiple sclerosis. There’s not a cure but there is highly effective medication. There’s also less effective medications. The highly effective stuff is various degrees of immunosuppressive or has a risk of fatal brain infection that is manageable with proper testing and monitoring. The less effective stuff can seem “safer” because it lacks these particular risks. A regular neurologist might not know very much at all and give outdated advice and treatment plans compared to some specialists and for this reason advocating for oneself is hugely important as long term outcomes can be greatly different based on the treatment choices. The fact is that you can’t just let “medicine happen to you” because the person that cares the most about your medical outcomes is you. Obviously this is an extreme example but it’s one of many.

Note: Advertising prescription drugs to the public is only legal in the USA, and also New Zealand. Nowhere else.

I think everyone agrees, but it is a first amendment nightmare to try and regulate.

I think individual patients have very different preferences on this. I've taken pets to a few different vets, and some say things like "There are many possible reasons for these symptoms. Let's try XYZ and see how it goes." Others are more like "Your dog has X. We'll do Y and it should clear up."

My preference is for the one who I think is being honest with me about how certain they are about what's going on, and when a medical professional seems like they want to appear 100% certain all the time it makes me worry about their judgement.

I think many people have the opposite preference, which seems to me is asking for dishonesty. Seems like an ethically tricky area.