TY - JOUR
T1 - An Exploratory Study on Information Manipulation by Doctors
T2 - Awareness, Actual State, and Ethical Tolerance
AU - Maeda, Shoichi
AU - Nakazawa, Eisuke
AU - Kamishiraki, Etsuko
AU - Ishikawa, Eri
AU - Murata, Maho
AU - Mori, Katsumi
AU - Akabayashi, Akira
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2022/10
Y1 - 2022/10
N2 - (1) Background: To what extent is information manipulation by doctors acceptable? To answer this question, we conducted an exploratory study aimed at obtaining basic data on descriptive ethics for considering this issue. (2) Methods: A self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted on a large sample (n = 3305) of doctors. The participants were queried on (1) whether they consider that information manipulation is necessary (awareness), (2) whether they have actually manipulated information (actual state), and (3) their ethical tolerance. (3) Result: The response rate was 28.7%. Sixty percent of the doctors responded that information manipulation to avoid harm to patients is necessary (awareness), that they have actually manipulated information (actual state), and that information manipulation is ethically acceptable. (4) Conclusion: While the present survey was conducted among doctors in Japan, previous studies have reported similar findings in the United States and Europe. Based on our analysis, we hypothesize that a relationship of trust between patients and medical personnel is crucial and that information manipulation is not needed when such a relationship has been established.
AB - (1) Background: To what extent is information manipulation by doctors acceptable? To answer this question, we conducted an exploratory study aimed at obtaining basic data on descriptive ethics for considering this issue. (2) Methods: A self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted on a large sample (n = 3305) of doctors. The participants were queried on (1) whether they consider that information manipulation is necessary (awareness), (2) whether they have actually manipulated information (actual state), and (3) their ethical tolerance. (3) Result: The response rate was 28.7%. Sixty percent of the doctors responded that information manipulation to avoid harm to patients is necessary (awareness), that they have actually manipulated information (actual state), and that information manipulation is ethically acceptable. (4) Conclusion: While the present survey was conducted among doctors in Japan, previous studies have reported similar findings in the United States and Europe. Based on our analysis, we hypothesize that a relationship of trust between patients and medical personnel is crucial and that information manipulation is not needed when such a relationship has been established.
KW - Japan
KW - information manipulation
KW - informed consent
KW - patient-doctor relationship
KW - prognosis disclosure
KW - trust
KW - truth-telling
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U2 - 10.3390/clinpract12050075
DO - 10.3390/clinpract12050075
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85147480254
SN - 2039-7283
VL - 12
SP - 723
EP - 733
JO - Clinics and Practice
JF - Clinics and Practice
IS - 5
ER -