A commentary about the need for a physician to communicate in a manner that will encourage honest patient disclosure and motivate behavior change, where necessary.
Demographic information about a specific subset of patients can help physicians recognize conditions they do not expect to find in the larger population.
Parents’ right to choose the culture of their children and a child’s right to an open future outweigh the right of the Deaf to perpetuate their culture by disallowing government funding of cochlear implant research to restore hearing.
Physicians should recognize that patients’ beliefs may cause them to have non-medical explanations for their illnesses and that shared explanations should be negotiated if treatment plans are to be successful.