False Hope: Is It Malpractice?

How much would you want to be told by your doctor if you were diagnosed with a terminal disease? The communication of such a diagnosis, for example cancer, is one of the worst things any doctor has to cope with, but can giving false hope lead to malpractice?

Perhaps an ethical doctor should communicate the unembellished factual truth. This gives the patient time cross several things off their bucket list, to get their affairs in order, and go through the stages of grief. The patient's loved ones must also be advised so they can offer assistance and support to the dying individual.

Another theory contends that a dying patient shouldn't be told right away he or she is facing impending death. This may spare the patient a lengthy period of despair and anxiety. Moreover, she or he could be one of the small percentage of people who actually overcome the odds and survive their disease. This strategy has obvious downsides.

Oncologist, Dr. James Salwitz, relates the story of a cancer patient who'd not been told of the seriousness of her affliction. As her cancer spread, her first oncologist told her that she had nothing to worry about. However, by the time she saw Dr. Salwitz for a second opinion, she had only weeks to live. She was outraged that she had been kept in the dark and she believed she would have lived her life differently had she known she was dying. Her first oncologist justified his decision by saying that her last months would be hopeful and happy.

Another doctor, Stanislaw Burzynski, claims he can cure half of the cancer patients who get his treatment, which utilizes sodium-rich drugs taken directly from blood and urine, but now created synthetically. For $25,000 he will treat terminally ill cancer patients with this dubious drug. Some of his patients swear they were cured by the treatment, nevertheless the FDA has found no evidence that even one patient has been cured by it.

Is giving false hope considered malpractice? In the first case it could be, depending on the way the judge or jury see it. In the case of Dr Burzynski, if it is found that he's taking money from desperate people in exchange for an ineffective treatment, what he is doing would not only be medical malpractice, but also fraud.

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Recording Your Doctor Visit – Is that OK?

Anyone with a Smartphone can record their doctor's appointment with or without the physician knowledge or the physician's permission. There are lots of reasons that patients have to record a visit including to share the information with a caregiver or family member, to remember or refresh the recommendations given, and to review it in a more relaxing environment. Many doctors are opposed to being recorded for fear that the recording will be used in a lawsuit (possibly even edited to present only part of the dialogue), along with the very fact that the doctor-patient relationship is confidential. Most doctors say they'd refuse to be recorded if asked.

In most states it is legal to record an in-person conversation without getting consent from everyone present. Thus, even if your physician refuses to be recorded, you can legally still do it (check your state laws first). Some doctors feel trust is violated by these recordings and they would immediately terminate the doctor-patient relationship if they caught a patient recording an appointment. Some offices have posted warning signs or have written statements regarding the office's "no recorded visits" policy. Other physicians, however, do allow recordings and some even encourage it. These physicians believe that if you're practicing good medicine you have nothing to worry about. Patients that can review a recording later may follow recommendations and guidance more thoroughly. In some physician offices, all appointments are being recorded for the patient. In such instances, problems about partial or edited recordings being presented in court no longer apply. Having these recordings that are complete could prove useful in defense of any malpractice lawsuit as the advice to document everything will ultimately have been completely complied with.

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