The problem with biomed engineering? Too much details, not enough thinking. At least according to my wife. But she might just have a point there. She usually does.

Last night I was talking with my wife; About biomedical engineering, of course. She doesn’t like the field much, to be honest, and enjoy making attempts at subverting me to her point of view and dislike.

“Honey, I think the biomed industry is really coming to a halt,” said my darling with a serene smile on her face.

“Any why would that be, my love?” I queried gently.

“Well,” said she, “it’s just that I think this is too much of a men’s field, oh flower of my heart.”

“Oh?” I raised an eyebrow. “I never knew you were a chauvinist, you beautiful thing you.”

“I didn’t mean it as a compliment,” she explained, “just that you men have no clue what you’re doing. Most of the male engineers and scientists just want to have fun. Blow things up, make a new robot, reach the stars. That sort of stuff. You want to do new things, break frontiers. It probably has something to do with testosterone.”

I coughed, and she started. “Sorry, I meant – it probably has something to do with testosterone, my love.”

“And what’s wrong with that?” I asked.

“Nothing, in general. I guess it’s nice to have men out there,” she relented. “But sometimes you get so obsessed with the inventing and fine-tuning that you forget about the people who need to use the device in the end. Let me give you an example: I read about this woman who was almost 100% paralyzed from the neck down, and one of you bioengineers recommended a new implant to her, to control her bladder.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad,” I objected.

“Not by itself,” she admitted, “but consider for a moment – what could a bladder prosthesis do for that woman? And that’s exactly what she said: she has a catheter attached all the time with a storage bag. If you gave her an implant to control the bladder, she would have had to go to the toilet – and then you would need to design prostheses for artificial hands as well.”

“I think I get it now,” I said. “You’re saying we’re putting too much focus on the technical details, and not enough on the real needs and wants of the person.”

“Exactly,” she smiled in victory. “You’re men.”