Is your doctor telling you the truth? Possibly not, according to a new survey in Health Affairs of nearly 1,900 doctors around the country.
The researchers found that 55% of the doctors said that in the last year they had been more positive about a patient s prognosis (预判) than his medical history. And 10% said they had told their patients something that wasn’t true. About a third of the doctors said they did not completely agree that they should disclose medical errors to their patients, and 40% said they didn’t feel the need to disclose financial ties to drug companies.
Really? The study’s lead author, Dr. Lisa Iezzoni, a medicine professor at Harvard Medical School and director of the Mongan Institute for Health Policy at Massachusetts General Hospital, was surprised to learn how dishonest her colleagues were. “Some of the numbers were larger than I expected they might be,” she says.
Why the white lies? In some cases, Iezzoni says it was for self- protection. Nearly 20% of the doctors admitted that they didn’t disclose a medical error to their patients because they were afraid of being punished for improper treatment. In other cases, it may have been for the patient’s benefit. Some might spare an anxious patient from hearing about the slightly abnormal results of a lab test, for example, if it has no negative effect on the patient’s health.
“After all doctors are human too,” says Iezzoni. “ They don’t want to upset their patients, they don’t want their patients to look unhappy or burst into tears. But they also need to be professionals; so they need to tell themselves that if there is a difficult truth they need to tell their patients, they need to work out a way of communicating that effectively.”
That’s important for doctors to appreciate, because as well-intentioned as their lies may be, other studies consistently show that patients prefer the truth, and would rather hear unpleasant news than remain ignorant about an awful medical condition. Being fully informed is a way that patients can prepare for whatever might occur. Therefore, it is necessary for doctors to learn to express themselves.
【小题1】About the new survey in Health Affairs, we can learn that .| A．10% of the doctors admitted that they had lied to their patients |
| B．about half of the doctors were unwilling to disclose medical errors |
| C．40% of the doctors preferred to work in drug companies |
| D．about 30% of the doctors were positive on predicting the patients’ disease |
| A．were trying to defend themselves | B．wanted to prove they were professionals |
| C．knew little about the patients’ situations | D．wanted the patients to spend more money |
| A．report some medical errors | B．talk about the needs of patients |
| C．persuade doctors to improve skills | D．discuss the doctor-patient relationship |
