Doctors Lie to Patients to Avoid Accountability Says Arkansas Personal Injury Lawyer
Apr 12, 2012
Little Rock, AR (Law Firm Newswire) April 11, 2012 – We trust our doctors to do what is right for us. Are they lying to us?
“The hard to swallow truth is that doctors do lie to their patients, and they have admitted that themselves in a recent survey,” says Michael Smith, an Arkansas injury lawyer and Arkansas accident lawyer, practicing personal injury law in Arkansas. “Shocking? Perhaps not, as many of the medical malpractice clients I speak to are certain their doctor lied to them. Often, they are right.”
People trust their doctors to get it right the first time, to diagnose what is going on with us and to recommend a course of treatment or surgery as required. It is expected that the doctor, with all that medical training, will not make a mistake. That trust is often misplaced, as a recent survey shows. The study, headed up by the Mongan Institute at Massachusetts General Hospital, took a look at 1,800 doctors, and asked them about hiding medical errors from their patients.
“The results were rather disturbing, and showed that one third of those surveyed did not totally agree with telling their patients about serious medical mistakes. Furthermore, one fifth disagreed with a statement that said doctors should never tell a patient something that is not true. As for a physician’s relationship with drug and medical device companies, many felt they did not need to tell patients about their financial links,” Smith added.
Nearly 20 percent of the 1,800 doctors participating in this survey indicated they held back information from a patient about medical mistakes during the past year. Researchers who analyzed this data also pointed out that the results just show the tip of the iceberg, meaning doctors are likely hiding more than they are willing to admit to anyone.
While many Americans were brought up to not tell lies, it seems doctors across the nation have either forgotten that past lesson or are deliberately ignoring it. “My money is on ignoring it, for the very reason that they do not want to be held accountable for medical errors. I could name a long list of medical malpractice cases in which the patient suffered horribly due to medical negligence, and it was quite plain to see. Nonetheless, on the other side of the courtroom, the order of the day was deny, deny, deny. Something is wrong with that picture, and patients know it,” Smith insisted.
Learn more by contacting Arkansas personal injury lawyer Michael Smith at http://www.arkansaslawhelp.com.
Michael Smith
425 W. Capitol Av., Suite 3700
Little Rock, AR 72201
Call: 501.519.4357
