These doctors may do nothing to impede either the EBM zealots or those who cling to historical practices. They sit out the debates. This is unfortunate and possibly the most discouraging outcome. Complacency in the face of alarming data is a more nefarious entity than ignorance. Unlike in classic Kübler-Ross thinking, the Acceptance stage can be positive or a negative development.

The irony is that if I’ve been convincing here, then I have not been – in a sense. Yes, my reasoning may be sound enough to compel you toward my way of thinking, but the Five Stages of Kübler-Ross grief itself has never been validated. It is a made-up construct. Some critics say it does not exist. Some grievers skip steps or go out of order, exhibiting some or none of the stages. But based on the appearance of this article in this periodical, if I had not written this paragraph, many readers may well have assimilated the attractive idea that physicians go through the stages of Kübler-Ross grieving when revising previously held dogmatic beliefs. This has never been tested; the null hypothesis says they don’t.

Dr. Faust is an emergency medicine resident at Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, and tweets about mE.D.icine and classical music @JeremyFaust.