Concern

You may ask: What’s wrong with double-checking all pathology specimens before confirming a report?

There are, in fact, two distantly related problems.

First, the inevitable consequence of double-checking, by simple arithmetic, is doubling the workload of the pathology department. In other words, we need twice as many pathologists. If the supply of doctor is fixed, we run into the problem of opportunistic cost and the manpower for other specialties would be trimmed. Even if the supply of doctor is increased to meet the need, the society may not have the enough number of suitable young people (in terms of intellectual and human quality) to be trained as doctors.

(Again, I discussed these considerations many years ago. See http://ccszeto.blogspot.hk/2008/01/empire.html and related posts.)

However, unlike screening for colon cancer by gastroenterologists, pathology is a relatively small specialty and manpower issue, even if doubled, is not a major concern.

Then what’s the problem?