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Why Did I Choose That Diagnosis?
Joseph Herman, MD
Arch Fam Med. 1994;3(1):31-33.
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| Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings. |
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AT FIRST glance, the purposes of diagnosis are clear-cut: to enable the formation of a plan of action; to allow the physician to define the probable extremes of prognosis, on the basis of which the patient and his or her family can make decisions; to trigger secondary prevention, as with the administration of antihypertensives; and to facilitate communication between physicians. The diagnostic process has uses in addition to those just mentioned. In primary care, a diagnosis is often applied as a retrospective label to make the therapeutic urge more respectable.1 Holmes2 has shown, in a classic but neglected report, that giving a diagnosis may be a way of ignoring the patient's real problem. Diagnosing a patient's condition can serve, too, as a permissive factor in family dynamics, freeing the members from the constraints of uncertainty.3 Finally, since reassurance is arguably the most important duty of the family
. . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]
Author Affiliations
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Beer-Sheva, Israel
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