Doctors don't take their own advice

DURHAM, N.C., April 12 (UPI) -- U.S. doctors often recommend different treatments for patients than what they say they would select for themselves, researchers found.

Professor Peter Ubel and post-doctoral associate Andrea Angott, both of Duke University, and Professor Brian Zikmund-Fisher of the University of Michigan conducted a randomized survey asking some physicians to make a recommendation to a patient seeking advice, while other physicians were asked what they themselves would choose as a patient facing the same medical decision.

The study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, found doctors frequently advised patients to pursue treatments with higher rates of side effects and lower mortality rates, but selecting treatments with lower rates of side effects and higher mortality rates for themselves.

The study found that people felt living with a colostomy or being paralyzed was better than dying so from that perspective, the 'right' decision is to take the risk of side effects and reduce the chances of dying, Ubel said.

"When making recommendations to patients, physicians can push aside any emotions that would lead them astray," Ubel said in a statement. "But those emotions may loom large when a doctor is deciding for him or herself. In other words, the act of giving advice to others may reset the balance between emotion and reason."