“I’ll bet you a fiver it’s not”

Post-take ward rounds are not usually an opportunity to earn some much needed cash, so you can imagine my surprise when the consultant playfully offered me a cash reward to make a diagnosis on a patient with a rare condition.

Why did the consultant bet money against my diagnosis? Because the condition in question was vanishingly rare, and with odds of nearly a million to one he believed (not unreasonably) that his money would be safe. Why did …