The Case of “Missing Causal Genes” and the Practice of Medicine

The practice of medicine is an exceedingly gratifying privilege, a notion that is commonly shared among the physicians. Also commonly understood but often not expressed is the humbling nature of this practice. Seldom, if ever, we know the true answers to our patients’ questions. Yet, we adeptly offer explanations, commonly based on the group data, and yet the essence of the practice of medicine is recognizing the uniqueness of the individual and his/her disease. To quote Sir William Osler, the father of western medicine, “the good physician treats the disease; the great physician treats the patient who has the disease.” Still, our answers typically gratify the patients and perhaps give the physicians an incontrovertibly false sense of being omniscient.