Reply #71: Why don't you ask a doctor?

[laconicsax]

Are you worried that a health care professional wouldn't give you the answer you like? Terrified that they might make a distinction between encephalopathy and autism, or encephalomyelitis and autism?

If the criteria warranted a diagnosis of autism, then it makes no sense that it would instead be 'encephalopathy with features of autism.'

If the criteria warranted a diagnosis of encephalopathy, but with certain features typically associated with autism, then it would make sense to issue a diagnosis of 'encephalopathy with features of autism.'

Also, I wasn't comparing influenza to MRSA, I was using both as an example of how different diseases can result in similar symptoms. Since you seem to advocate diagnosis based on incomplete evidence, I could see you arguing that a case of MRSA was really just influenza with a benign rash (or the other way around) if it suited your anti-medicine agenda. If you're willing to intentionally mislabel a condition to bolster your argument, it doesn't take much to imagine you doing it again. (Especially when one such instance involved you posting a diagnosis that said, "regressive encephalopathy with features consistent with an autistic spectrum disorder, following normal development" to "prove" that the diagnosis wasn't regressive encephalopathy.)

"Condition X with features of autism" is not the same as autism. If it were, it wouldn't be "condition X with features of autism."
Similarly, "influenza with features of MRSA" wouldn't be MRSA. If it were, it wouldn't be "influenza with features of MRSA."