Secondary Income From Recommended Treatment: Should Fiduciary Principles Constrain Physician Behavior?
Document Type
Book Chapter
Publication Date
1983
Editor(s)
Bradford H. Gray
ISBN
0309033772
Publisher
National Academies Press
Language
en-US
Recommended Citation
Frances H. Miller,
Secondary Income From Recommended Treatment: Should Fiduciary Principles Constrain Physician Behavior?
,
in
The New Health Care for Profit: Doctors and Hospitals in a Competitive Environment
153
(Bradford H. Gray ed.,
1983).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.bu.edu/faculty_scholarship/2015
Comments
It is generally recognized that the parties to a physician-patient relationship are frequently on unequal footing. The potential for physician dominance stems not only from the fact that illness places patients in a vulnerable, dependent posture but also from the superior knowledge, training, and clinical experience of the physician. Although it may be difficult for the average patient to question the physician's judgment, patients must lay their innermost selves bare, both physically and emotionally, if their doctors are to understand the true nature and origin of their problems. Without trust, and therefore vulnerability, the candor necessary to the therapeutic relationship is impossible to achieve.