I've heard that in the early days of HIV, the tests were (e.g.) 95% accurate, and when patients saw their positive results and the supposed 5% chance it's wrong they'd sometimes kill themselves.
They revised the tests so the first test would say Inconclusive rather than Positive, and ask them to repeat it. This saved some lives.
Maybe this a UX failure? Shouldn't the test designers present the results like this, even to doctors?
Absolutely a UX failure here, one that it seems some doctors translate for patients while others are left in the dark on. From the way people are responding on here about the use of statistics in the article, it's clear that a big portion of the techo community I think is undervaluing that often UX is far more important than it is treated.
I had a friend tell me their daughter tested positive for something and they didn’t do any follow-up testing because someone else they knew also had a positive result and their baby was fine, so “the test is worthless.” Luckily their daughter seems to be healthy herself, but it clearly wasn’t explained well to them by their doctor.
They revised the tests so the first test would say Inconclusive rather than Positive, and ask them to repeat it. This saved some lives.
Maybe this a UX failure? Shouldn't the test designers present the results like this, even to doctors?