The stakes are pretty high to get "curious" with applying medical treatments. So it's not surprising that the field selects (or teaches) them to dampen their curiosity. There's malady A whose treatment options are {a,b,c..}. The algorithm of treating the malady doesn't align itself with being curious. From an outsider, it seems like the difficulty in being an MD lies in knowing all the maladies and correctly applying their respective treatments (while not making mistakes).

You make an excellent point, but usually I can have a good conversation with a doctor about a physical malady, and once they work out that I'm not a hypochondriac or trying to impress them consultations have been very productive. I picked my last psychiatrist partly because he had a decent publishing record and I thought he would have some academic curiosity - and for all I know maybe he does, but he doesn't share it with his patients :)

Agree 100%. It is not that I am asking them to come up with unproven, novel treatments, merely to think the problem through a little bit more.