Unwanted patients and unwanted diagnostic errors

Introduction Real people have real emotions that motivate their thinking. For example, the hopes of having a child can lead women with infertility to undergo courses of intense hormonal treatments and the fear of dying can lead men with prostate cancer to undergo surgical castration.1 Much of the attention towards advanced directives and discussions about goals of care are intended to document and legitimize a patient's emotions related to death and dying. Indeed, guidelines for physician-aided-dying suggest that a patient's emotions are sometimes more important than life itself.2 In contrast, the emotions of a physician are usually considered as unwanted intrusions into medical decision-making that have no legitimate relevance. Psychiatrists use the term ‘countertransference’ to denote a psychotherapist's emotions towards a patient. The basic concept is that a physician's own feelings may become entangled in the doctor–patient relationship and lead to missed diagnoses and...

Source: BMJ Quality and Safety - December 13, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Redelmeier, D. A., Etchells, E. E. Tags: Press releases Editorials Source Type: research