Do doctors lie to patients

Answer 1

It depends on the doctor and the circumstances. It probably falls into one of these categories:

1. For the good of the patients. If multiple people were admitted to the hospital from a fire, wreck, or other tragedy, doctors may tell the survivors that everyone made it or were okay, even if some died on the way to the hospital. They may do this to help the recovery of the patients they can help, since if they knew the truth, they might give up the desire to live, and their condition might get worse. This might also include cases where an adult asks about surgery that was done on them as a child that they didn't consent to, thinking such information might harm their mental state or cause them to harm someone.

In mental patients, doctors might play along with their delusions in order to help keep them comfortable and for the good of the other patients. Would it be good to have a patient yelling at the top of their lungs all night long and keep patients up over something a doctor said when telling them the truth won't help them to get better?

2. Unintentionally. A doctor may not have all the information about something and may speak before having all the facts. In a trauma case involving multiple patients, different patients may be sent to different doctors, and if a patient asks about a loved one sent to another doctor, the doctor can only guess. The other person might have just died or something, and the doctor won't know that. Or a doctor may be misinformed about something, like a treatment, and they don't know all the risks and something bad happens, and they later hear something that contradicts what they were told previously.

3. Liability and fear of lawsuits. They might withhold information or bend the truth if it will possibly keep them out of a lawsuit.

4. In jest. Some doctors get tired or frustrated and may joke around as a form of levity and tension release. Someone might not get the joke and take it at face value and may assume they were told a lie.

5. Greed or hard times. Doctors are humans like everyone else and can give into the same temptations. So some may say someone has a condition they don' have to be able to treat them for it. Or they may perform unnecessary tests.

6. Conspiracy, collusion or racketeering. Luckily this situation is rare, but it is possible for doctors of an area to take advantage of patients or give substandard care and back each other up in it. If a patient wants a second opinion, the doctor will insist that they see one who is in on the racket with them.