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Misdiagnosis of DepressionPhysicians Contribute to the Stigmatization of Mental Illness
W. Eugene Broadhead, MD, PhD
Arch Fam Med. 1994;3(4):319-320.
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WHEN I FIRST HEARD of the concept of misdiagnosis of mental disorders a few years ago, I was dumbfounded. However, thinking about it, I realized that I had already learned to code diagnoses to protect my patient from "the insurance company." I had learned not to falsify my reporting but to code the diagnosis that favored my patient when it was appropriate, eg, "elevated blood pressure without a diagnosis of hypertension" or "elevated blood glucose," until a more appropriate diagnosis could be made. Stretching our ethical boundaries just a little, it is not surprising that Rost et al1 have found that just over 50% of their sample of physicians apparently falsified their billing records with the same goal in mind—protecting their patients from the adverse consequences of certain diagnoses, ie, uninsurability.
The consequences, from the stigmatization of mental disorders in the primary care system to the recovery of
. . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]
Author Affiliations
Duke University Medical Center Durham, NC
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