Patients’ Medical Judgments

Abstract

Weighing risks and benefits to form a decision about the desirability of a therapy is inherent in the physician’s role as prescriber. However, as discussed previously, the patient’s desire to know risk information may reflect a need for anticipatory coping as well as meaningful participation in the therapeutic selection process. It is no wonder that many health professionals view the conveyance of risk information as an undesirable legal intrusion that interferes with the practice of medicine (Taylor and Kelner, 1987). When the patient is faced with the possibility of severe consequences from a disease or a therapy, it is natural for health professionals to assume that reassurance is necessary rather than the accurate transmission of risk information.