Placebo
Illustration from Internet Archive Book Images via Flickr Every week or so, a patient comes into my clinic with back or shoulder pain. These patients’ MRIs are spotless, and they have been told by many doctors before me that everything looks normal — that there is no measurable source of their pain. It is my job to sit them down, look them in the eye, and tell them their pain is real.
“Your MRI is normal because the
