This perspective in the current BMJ seems important to me. The author, Matt Morgan begins:
“If ‘I love you’ are the three most important words in life, then ‘I don’t know’ are the three most important in medicine. They’re also the most underused. Their power comes from admitting that doctors don’t, and can’t, know everything.”
Morgan goes on to say: “They’re difficult words to say. It’s hard to admit the limits of our knowledge, and sometimes it means hinting at the boundaries of medical understanding”
But Morgan concludes: “Yet these words also carry immense power: the power of hope, because there may be that chance to recover. They also carry the power to inspire people to strive for a better understanding of what’s not yet known.”
I recall once reading a novel by Julian Barnes, where this quote struck me:
