Complexity isn't just a byproduct; it's often a strategy.
The orthopedic device industry, much like credit card companies or car dealerships, operates within what Scott Adams might call a "confusopoly" – an environment where confusion is manufactured to obscure choices and secure sales. This deliberate complexity affects hospitals, surgeons, and patients alike, creating a veil over what should be a transparent healthcare process.
This comment from David KIRWAN - Orthopaedic Surgeon on my complexity posting, REALLY got me thinking. Transcribed below.
Great insight. Improving "the system" is about sales, not improving the implant or the surgery. When you have a hammer....or a robot... The "robotic process" includes data collection, which is a good thing. But data could be collected without a $1m machine making the bone cuts. Navigation software could have collected data for the last 20 years. But "the system" chose not to. Robots have not simplified "the system". Instead, they are part of it and they have complicated it. And they have consumed resources massively. "The System" isn't stupid!
The Root of the Problem: Lack of Transparency
The core issue plaguing the orthopedic secto...
