> while not appearing to assign much risk to how you get there.
I'm not sure what you mean by this, can you rephrase it?
If you are saying that I'm not putting enough weight on the risks of avoiding the procedure - let me be clear, I'm talking about cases where anesthesia is optional, and is a matter of pain vs comfort.
I know that avoiding root canal puts me at risk of dying from infection, so of course I wouldn't avoid doing it, and it makes sense to prefer "treating tooth with anesthesia" over "not trating a tooth." But I could have avoided that surgery(it was about quality of life, not survival), and I could've avoided anesthesia if I was willing to suffer some pain/discomfort. And that should be my choice to make.
I think that it is rational to take short term pain over (even small) probability of long term brain damage. If I could take some reasonable amount of pain over brain damage risk, I would take it any time, and it would be the right choice. My problem with root canal is that I don't think I could handle the pain without anesthetics. So I fear that when faced with choice "a lot of pain" vs "safety for my brain" I will fear the pain, take anesthetics, and betray my values.
Do you see my problem here? If brain has literally "infinite" value, then no matter how infinitesimal risks are, it is rational to minimize them at all cost. If doing the procedure minimizes them, it is rational to do it, if it doesn't - the right thing is to avoid it.
Correct me if I misunderstood what you're saying.
> How likely is it that you're going to suffer brain injury
> in your day to day life versus from anaesthetic?
Having an anasthetic carries some risk. How much? How many people per million suffer the adverse outcome you fear?
Now compare that to the risk of day to day life. How much has the risk increased?
There's a bunch of stuff you do that you don't need to do that carries more risk than anaesthetic.
It's fine for you to chose your medical care. You might want to investigate an "advance health care directive". Having one should persuade doctors that you have spent time thinking about this and it is your sincere and considered desire to ignore their advice to have anasthesia.
>There's a bunch of stuff you do that you don't need to do that carries more risk than anaesthetic.
I don't have any evidence for this but I suspect that the majority of brain injuries in otherwise healthy people come from trauma due to accidents. If my suspicion is true then wearing a helmet all the time might be the most effective way to avoid brain injury.
If you are saying that I'm not putting enough weight on the risks of avoiding the procedure - let me be clear, I'm talking about cases where anesthesia is optional, and is a matter of pain vs comfort.
I know that avoiding root canal puts me at risk of dying from infection, so of course I wouldn't avoid doing it, and it makes sense to prefer "treating tooth with anesthesia" over "not trating a tooth." But I could have avoided that surgery(it was about quality of life, not survival), and I could've avoided anesthesia if I was willing to suffer some pain/discomfort. And that should be my choice to make.
I think that it is rational to take short term pain over (even small) probability of long term brain damage. If I could take some reasonable amount of pain over brain damage risk, I would take it any time, and it would be the right choice. My problem with root canal is that I don't think I could handle the pain without anesthetics. So I fear that when faced with choice "a lot of pain" vs "safety for my brain" I will fear the pain, take anesthetics, and betray my values.
Do you see my problem here? If brain has literally "infinite" value, then no matter how infinitesimal risks are, it is rational to minimize them at all cost. If doing the procedure minimizes them, it is rational to do it, if it doesn't - the right thing is to avoid it.
Correct me if I misunderstood what you're saying.
Ehm... Less likely? Possible, but less likely.