Perspectives on the Intentional Use of Benevolent Deception in Patient & Physician Communication

Patients, surrogates, and  physicians  partnering  in  the  process  of  shared  decision  making  may  view  selected  forms  or  circumstances  of  deception  as  acceptable  in  order  to  avoid  the  real  or  perceived  suffering  associated  with  discussion  of  negative  outcome.  The overall objective of this project is to collect pilot data comparing the degree to which the deception of patients by physicians is viewed as appropriate by three groups: (1) patients, (2) actual or potential surrogate decision makers, and (3) physicians who care for seriously ill patients. This  study  will  provide  novel,  empirical  data on  key  stakeholders’  attitudes  towards  and  preferences  for  deception  during  physician-­patient  communication  and  directly inform  future studies  that  will  influence  clinical  practice  and policies  for  physicians  communicating  with  patients.