Prediction versus prognosis

Dr. Koch confuses a prediction with a prognostic assessment¹. A physician can guess (predict) how long a patient will live. Experienced physicians know better than to offer a prediction with any degree of certainty. An accurate assessment of prognosis differs from a prediction in that it requires stating a range of survival based upon relevant data. It would be nice if physicians were clairvoyant, but as Yogi Bera noted: “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.”