Title: What do patients want? Help in making effective choices.
Abstract: sually, I want to be a rational patient. To do that, my physicians need to helpme understand the probability and magnitude of the good and bad things thatcan happen to me, as a result of taking—or rejecting—possible treatments. By “understand,” I mean having cognitive control over the issues that are soimportant to me. I want not only to hear the facts, but also to be able to integratethem into what I already know about the topic (recognizing that some of what Iknow is wrong and will have to be replaced by better knowledge). I want to be flu-ent enough to explain my decision to myself and my family. To tell the truth, I’d also like to have emotional control over the decision. Ashard as it might be, I’d like to be at peace with the decision. I want to be able to livewith my choice—and its consequences. If things turn out badly, I don’t want to addthe insult of second guessing to the injury of what has already occurred. I realize that this can be a tall order. So let me reflect on it now, when I’m notmired in the tensions of an actual choice, and I can be more sympathetic to the con-straints on my physician’s reality. I do know, in principle, that my physician does nothave unlimited time, unlimited knowledge, or unlimited patience for me, especiallywhen decisions have to be made and I might not be at my most reasonable.
Publication Year: 1999
Publication Date: 1999-10-28
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['pubmed']
Access and Citation
Cited By Count: 11
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