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When doctors sugarcoat the truth, patients get shortchanged

Washington Post

Jun 24, 2023
Melinda Beck illustration
Withholding information for the patient’s best interest was the norm in medicine for centuries. Doctors were the gatekeepers of health and their duty was to provide hope and comfort. Currently the doctor-patient partnership model has replaced that sort of medical paternalism. Yet doctors still make routine judgments about how much to tell patients.

Too much information can be unhelpful and confusing, said CBH Research Director, Eric Campbell, PhD.  Should a doctor decide that medical choices are over a patient’s head so they shouldn’t be mentioned or that a patient is too fragile to handle difficult news?  Such assumptions can reflect an implicit bias that can lead to health disparities. Poorer outcomes can result when a doctor’s unconscious feelings about skin color, gender, disability, age or ethnicity influence what gets shared.  Read article>>

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