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- Title
How Should Physicians Use Their Authority to Name a Stigmatizing Diagnosis and Respond to a Patient's Experience?
- Authors
Bartels, Jane; Ryan, Christopher J.
- Abstract
Patients with delusional infestation are unlikely to agree to take the mainstay of treatment--antipsychotic medication. While stressing the general importance of truth telling in medicine, we suggest that, in some cases of delusional infestation, patients' lack of decision-making capacity will--provided a series of criteria are met--justify briefly withholding their diagnosis. We acknowledge this action as a kind of deception with ethical pitfalls and discuss those related to prescribing antipsychotic medication without frank disclosure. We recommend full disclosure of a delusional infestation diagnosis when the patient is recovered, despite this action's potential to exacerbate stigma.
- Subjects
EDUCATION of physicians; ITCHING; PARASITIC diseases; AMERICAN Medical Association; ANTIPSYCHOTIC agents; BEDBUGS; CONCEPTS; DELUSIONS; DIAGNOSIS; POWER (Social sciences); TERMS &; phrases; DISCLOSURE; CODES of ethics; PSYCHOLOGY
- Publication
AMA Journal of Ethics, 2018, Vol 20, Issue 12, p1119
- ISSN
2376-6980
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1001/amajethics.2018.1119