PATIENTS LIE

By CARLA K. JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer

Some doctors are seeking approaches that encourage more honesty. Dr. Zach Rosen, medical director of New York’s Montefiore Family Health Center, asks his patients a series of questions to determine whether they’re taking their medicine.

Doctor

Cyndi Smith, a 45-year-old Weight Watchers leader in suburban Chicago, admits her own lying past when it came to questions about her exercise and eating habits. She says she lied because she was fooling herself.

“You convince yourself of certain things and it becomes true, when in reality it’s not,” she said. If her doctor had questioned her more thoroughly, she says she might have told the truth.

“I think doctors could be a little more point-blank,” she said. “And we need to be a little more honest.”


About this entry