“There’s an expectation that our doctors will be truthful and most are, but some are not,’’ said study coauthor Eric Campbell, director of research at the hospital’s Mongan Institute for Health Policy.
The researchers did not determine whether any patients were harmed because of a physician’s dishonesty.
The survey found that nearly one-fifth of doctors said they had not fully disclosed their mistakes during the past year in order to avoid a lawsuit.
“I was disappointed to see so many doctors not disclosing errors,’’ said Arthur Caplan, a bioethicist at the University of Pennsylvania who was not involved in the study. “They may dodge a bullet, but if it’s found out later, they can really get clobbered for not telling the truth, to say nothing of the patient consequences.’’
In addition, nearly 40 percent of physicians said they did not think it was necessary to tell patients whether they had accepted speaking fees or a free vacation from the manufacturer of the drug they were prescribing or whether they owned the scanner for the imaging test they were ordering, meaning they would profit from its use.
“If a reasonable person might think a financial relationship might affect what drug, procedure, or test they were prescribed, it’s better to disclose,’’ Caplan said. “A lot of time patients will say they don’t care about the conflict,’’ but they should be given the chance to ask further questions, he said.
Efforts are underway to make potential financial conflicts more transparent: Partners HealthCare, the parent company of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Mass. General, may soon start requiring doctors to disclose to patients any substantial monetary ties they have to medical companies.
A new federal law requires pharmaceutical and medical device companies to publicly report any physician payments or gifts worth more than $10. Everything from stock options, meals, and consulting fees will pop up on a searchable physician database scheduled to appear online in September 2013.
