Doctor, Doctor, Give Me the News

Doctor

Is your doctor telling you the truth?  A recent survey  suggests that many times they are not.  From a collection of data from 2009 by the Charter of Medical Professionals, found that openness and honesty in communications between doctor and patient wasn’t always present.

Of the 1,891 physicians that participated in the survey, 10% admitted to lying to a patient within the past year.  Another 40% felt it was unnecessary to disclose a financial relationship they had with a drug company before prescribing medications.

On the bright side, the vast majority of surveyed physicians agreed that patients should be fully advised about the risk and benefits of interventions, and they should never disclose a patients confidential information to an unauthorized person.

The most startling part of the survey is that nearly 1/3 of the participating physician admitted to not telling patients of a mistake they may have made in their care, for fear of being sued.  It’s important that patients have a form of recourse in cases where a physician is clearly negligent, but doctors are human and mistakes will happen, we must find a way to allow a physician to feel confident in making full disclosures to a patient especially when it come to their health, without the constant fear of litigation.

Reference: Health – 222