many doctors are retarded about non-medical things

Fee for service has destroyed that luxury.

I view the doctor mostly as the bouncer to a club. Inside the club are blood tests I want to order, but I have to convince the door guy to let me through. (In the US, I just use Ulta, pick my own tests, but here in Portugal, you need to get the MD to sign off on it.)

And that isn’t just physicians, academic doctors will blindly follow their instructions as long as it pays the bills.