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Something Extra: To Trust Or Not To Trust Your Doctor?

MIAMI (CBS4) - Except for a surgeon I dealt with twenty years ago who had the bedside manner of Dracula, I've always liked my doctors.  I've even liked my dentists.  And, I've definitely trusted them.

But a new study published in Health Affairs might make me and you think twice.

It shows eleven per cent of doctors admit they told a patient something untrue in the last year.

Thirty five per cent said they did not completely agree they should disclose serious medical errors to patients and about twenty per cent said they had not revealed a mistake to a patient for fear of being sued.

But by far the biggest issue is that fifty five per cent admitted they had sugar coated the prognosis they gave patients.

Doctors trained in the U.S., where openness and transparency have been increasingly stressed in training, were less likely to tell untruths.

Among specialists, cardiologists and psychiatrists tended to fudge things the most.

The best advice according to the experts: have a frank conversation with your doctor about what you expect.

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