Blame the patient? Of course we do (Brita Lundberg, 16 January 2023)

Summary

This blog by Brita Lundberg of Lundberg Health Advocates looks at how healthcare providers can sometimes blame the patient for their condition, errors in treatment and communication issues. She looks at the role that language used in medical settings and historical views of the medical profession have on the tendency to blame patients, and highlights how the issue is also present in wider society.

She offers three potential steps to help tackle patient-blaming:

1. Recognise the problem, as it is difficult if not impossible to solve a problem until one recognises that it exists.
2. Families, friends and clinicians should start with the assumption that the patient is correct and question others, particularly any in authority. All of us can be much too quick to dismiss patients’ concerns and to reassure them. It’s a bad habit. Instead–it is prudent never to eliminate any diagnosis, particularly one suggested by the patient, until all the supporting and contradictory evidence for each is carefully considered.
3. Listen–that terribly overused and so little practiced—word. Listening instead of interrupting right away not only helps preserve the flow of the narrative but also gives us time to think about what is being said, and time to formulate a more considered response.