Could doctors’ views about disabilities affect care?
The vast majority of doctors believe that significant disabilities are associated with a worse quality of life, results from a US survey suggest.
The national survey, which included the opinions of 714 doctors from a wide variety of specialties, shows that nearly 80% believe that a patient with a significant disability will have a worse quality of life compared to those who were not disabled,
Researchers reported in Health Affairs that 42% of doctors chose the answer ‘a little worse’ and 37% chose ‘a lot worse’ on the quality of life question.
Lead author Professor Lisa Iezzoni from Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, said the findings raised questions about whether a doctor’s judgement of quality of life might affect the care they provided.
