Survey shows that at least some physicians are not always open or honest with patients.
Honesty and transparency with patients are core components of physician professionalism. However, this survey of practicing physicians found that many deviate from these expectations. Although in principle most physicians supported disclosing errors to patients, nearly one-third reported that they would not fully disclose even a serious error, and a large proportion of physicians reported not disclosing financial relationships with drug or device companies to patients. These findings are similar to those found in an earlier classic study of physicians' attitudes toward professionalism.