This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in JAMA  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Richard S. Moon, MD
Florence, Tex

JAMA. 1995;273(22):1734.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.

—Drs Ness and Ende¹ discuss denial in the medical interview as if only patients used it. Denial can occur on either side of the desk: physicians are not immune to this defense mechanism. Usually it is an individual defense, protective of an individual physician, patient, or opinion, but occasionally physician denial affects most of the profession. Forty years ago, most physicians did not recognize child abuse as a common cause of childhood injury. Instead, the victims were labeled as physically weak (weak bones, easy bruising) or emotionally disturbed (accident-prone).

Physician denial interacts with patient denial to undermine the correct diagnosis and best treatment of patients' problems. Addressing patient denial alone leaves an irrational influence in the decision chain. Physicians must learn to recognize their own sources of denial and adjust for them. Medical organizations and medical schools should be aware that physician denial exists and help . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?