'Dissembling and Disclosing: Physician Responsibility on the Frontiers of Tort Law'
12 Pages Posted: 29 Oct 2008
Date Written: October 24, 2008
Abstract
This Commentary addresses an issue that emerges as a common theme in dealing with legal considerations in advising physicians: Are there circumstances in which telling "less than the whole truth" is warranted? I discuss two categorical instances in which a physician's responsibility to be entirely forthcoming in dealing with medical matters, as well as the correlative legal consequences of abandoning candor, have proven to be especially vexing. Initially, I discuss "the blameless medical excuse" in organ transplant cases; more specifically, the common practice of providing prospective organ transplant donors a medical excuse as a cover for their unwillingness to donate an organ to a family member or close friend. I then turn from questions of dissembling the truth to compunctions about revealing it. The latter survive as a lively, ongoing dialogue in both the medical and legal arenas, in the context of the role of apology for medical negligence. I conclude with some summary observations about physician disclosure and its fit within a regime of medical malpractice law.
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