Was speaking more generally there; I don't think you need to know everything but I don't recommend being clueless. For the doctor example, if you are prescribed medicine, I think you should know what it is, how much and how often you are supposed to take of it, and at least at a high level what it is supposed to do for you. I've known people who don't know any of the above, and while their health outcomes weren't necessarily bad they were more complicated than they could have been.

I'm not saying you need to be paranoid and scrutinize every decision down to the molecule, but you are the greatest person who cares about the things you care about, and you deserve to know about those things.

With doctors, it is a leap of faith but what do you do if the diagnosis was not helpful? You have to have faith in yourself in determining whether the treatment is working or not. Medicine may not have a DIY solution but even then, there is rehab and understanding one's own disease that is required. Have you ever been to physio after a sport injury? 90% of rehap is done by yourself.