Seeking Your Help to Call for Total Transparency in Medical Care

I received many responses to my NPR article on Who’s My Doctor. Many have asked what they can do. Here is a joint provider-patient petition to call for honesty and transparency in medical care. Your thoughts? If you agree, please sign here!
 

We are patients and providers who believe that doctors need to be honest, transparent, and accountable.

When we go to the doctor, we are vulnerable and need to trust that our doctors have our best interests at heart.

Doctors have to tell each other at conferences if they are paid by drug companies or medical device companies; they should also tell their patients about these potential conflicts of interest. They need to be open with patients if their employers pay them more to do more, or to do less. These incentives directly affect patient care.

We believe that informed consent isn't complete without doctors' disclosure of how their financial incentives align with their treatment recommendations.

We also believe that patients have a right to know our doctors’ views on healthcare issues such as preventive health, integrative medicine, shared decision-making, end-of-life care, and women’s health. Such beliefs can have an important impact on the provider-patient relationship, and patients need ready access to this information to be empowered to choose the right doctor for us.

Those of us who are doctors, nurses, healthcare providers, and providers-in-training affirm through Who’s My Doctor and this Total Transparency Manifesto that our patients' best interests are our best interests. We know that patients come to us at a time of vulnerability, so we will be vulnerable too. This is a partnership; we are in this together.

With this pledge, we are coming together as patients, doctors, and healthcare providers to rebuild our healthcare system into one that upholds professionalism, prioritizes patient values, and respects human dignity.