Lying to your Doctor
The Tribune had an interesting article printed a while back about the difficulty physicians have when it comes to honesty in patients. The News and Tribune - HEALTH: Don’t try to be ’good patient’ by lying to your doctor
It is well worth the read as it is very prevalent in every medical practice.
I use a similar phrase with my patients when I tell them “you can lie to your spouse, boss, family and friends, but you can’t lie to God and you shouldn’t lie to your doctor.”
We can only make the correct diagnosis and provide the correct treatment plan when we have all of the accurate information. Withholding pertinent details can be deleterious to the patient’s health.
The most common areas I see patients withholding the whole truth concerns, medications, how much they eat, how much they exercise, how much they drink, and their relationship issues. Most patients describe fairly accurately their symptoms if prompted with the right questions.
It seems to be some of the personal information that is commonly concealed.
The take home message is to be honest and do not be offended by what may seem to be a personal question. Many questions that may seem too personal like religion, sexual behaviors, and personal choice behaviors may in many ways affect how you respond to treatment and even if it is the best treatment for you.
It is well worth the read as it is very prevalent in every medical practice.
I use a similar phrase with my patients when I tell them “you can lie to your spouse, boss, family and friends, but you can’t lie to God and you shouldn’t lie to your doctor.”
We can only make the correct diagnosis and provide the correct treatment plan when we have all of the accurate information. Withholding pertinent details can be deleterious to the patient’s health.
The most common areas I see patients withholding the whole truth concerns, medications, how much they eat, how much they exercise, how much they drink, and their relationship issues. Most patients describe fairly accurately their symptoms if prompted with the right questions.
It seems to be some of the personal information that is commonly concealed.
The take home message is to be honest and do not be offended by what may seem to be a personal question. Many questions that may seem too personal like religion, sexual behaviors, and personal choice behaviors may in many ways affect how you respond to treatment and even if it is the best treatment for you.
Labels: doctor-patient, lying
posted by Anonymous at 5:15 AM
2 Comments:
Does, "The check is in the mail", qualify?
why lie? 1. the fear of being judged.
2. taking ephedra to stay awake/alert when you have high blood pressure and you know he's gonna say stop ...
and you know you are not ...
but the last time you said you weren't willing to do something like 'not' take cold medicine, you badgered and badgered until you said 'yeah,sure' just to get the hell outta there
when honesty leads to belittling treatment, yeah, you're gonna lie
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