Greedy Trial Lawyer
Doctors Without Scruples
Category: The Latest Baddest
So you think you and your doctor form a team dedicated to your best medical interests and good health. Well, you may have to think again.
Many doctors stay mum on controversial care: study
BOSTON (Reuters) - Do not always expect straight talk from your doctor about treatments he or she disapproves of -- 14 percent of physicians believe it is acceptable to withhold information about topics such as birth control, abortion and sedating dying patients, according to a study published on Wednesday.In addition, 29 percent feel no obligation to tell patients where they can go to get that care.
Most of the 1,144 U.S. doctors who responded to the poll, accord to a report in the New England Journal of Medicine, supported full disclosure and referral to another health care provider if they had moral objections to a treatment or procedure.
"If physicians' ideas translate into their practices, then 14 percent of patients -- more than 40 million Americans -- may be cared for by physicians who do not believe they are obligated to disclose information about medically available treatments they consider objectionable," Dr. Farr Curlin of the University of Chicago and colleagues wrote.
"In addition, 29 percent of patients -- or nearly 100 million Americans -- may be cared for by physicians who do not believe they have an obligation to refer the patient to another provider for such treatments."
Men, Christian doctors and physicians with the strongest religious beliefs were most likely to say it is permissible to withhold information and not help a patient find another source of controversial care.
Those doctors who practice silence whenever they have a moral or religious objection to an available treatment should display a prominent "speak no evil" monkey image on their chest. This symbol could become the universal sign of a medical provider who puts his or her own beliefs ahead of the need for full disclosure of medical options.
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