The most obvious cause of the mistake about ulcers was having a simple plausible theory that bacteria couldn't survive in stomach acid. I wonder how the Chinese got it right. Did the theory about bacteria never happen to take hold there? Do stomach ulcers look like other infections?

More generally, I'm inclined to think that being a patient is a way of being low status. The basic need for sleep is made subordinate to hospital routine.

There may be cultural variation on that one-- most of what I hear about medicine is about American medicine.