Aaron Hartman, MD, in a YouTube talk titled "Blind Spots in the Medical Industry," introduces the concept of medical "blind spots" by citing historical abuses (forced sterilizations in the 1920s–30s and lobotomies in the 1940s–50s) and then asks what comparable mistakes we might be making today. He frames this as an open, reflective question about practices that future clinicians may regret.
Chapters
What are things today? The healthcare system is just flat out getting wrong. These are referred to as blind spots. Again, before I talk about some current day ones, I want to solidify the concept that this has gone on a lot in the past. I mean, literally all the time. A great example would be back in the 1920s and 30s, we used to actually do forced sterilizations for people with mental handicaps. The health establishment thought that was a great idea in the 1940s and 50s. Forced lobotomies, which is cutting off the front part of someone's brain with the mental health or mood irregularity. If you ever saw the movie One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest with Jack Nicholson, that entire movie was based on this commonality that was happening. Forced lobotomies on people. There's a whole host of other really bad things we did in the past that we thought were great. My question is, what are the blind spots today? What are the things we're doing today that maybe not that severe, maybe worse, you know, who knows? And that's a question I ask myself all the time. What am I missing today that 20 or 30, 40 years from now I'm gonna say, oh my gosh, I can't believe that. Find out.