FHC #108: An unfiltered look at distrust between patients and doctors

This “Unfiltered” episode of Fixing Healthcare welcomes back Dr. Jonathan Fisher, a respected cardiologist and renowned advocate for physician well-being.

On today’s show, Dr. Fisher serves up a question for Dr. Robert Pearl.

He recalls the classic Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine, a medical school textbook that now comprises more than 3,000 pages of vital information. And yet, despite the book’s exhaustive and comprehensive nature, Dr. Fisher remembers one thing that was notably absent from its pages:

“Something was missing in that book that has come back to bite me on more than one occasion in my clinic, relating to patient care and also working with my colleagues. It has to do with the role of trust in healthcare.”

Fisher recalls, in his early years of practice, assuming that patients would come to his office, heed his medical wisdom, dutifully follow his recommendations and return later for a follow-up visit having benefited greatly. But he quickly learned that this paternalistic approach to medical treatment had fallen out of favor some time ago. Now that today’s patients aren’t so quick to defer to the physician’s expertise, what is the state of trust in healthcare and how can physicians earn more of it from increasingly skeptical patients?

Today’s show explores the role of trust and distrust in medicine. The doctors, alongside cohost Jeremy Corr, dive into the relationship between patients and doctors, physicians and their colleagues and clinicians and those in leadership roles.

To discover more, press play and check out these helpful links:

Presale: ‘Just One Heart’ (Jonathan Fisher’s new book)

Healing Healthcare: Repairing The Last 5 Years Of Damage (LinkedIn)

To End Burnout, Doctors Must Change the Culture of Medicine (Medscape)

Transforming Leadership & Well-Being From The Heart (About My Brain)

Breaking The Rules Of Healthcare (LinkedIn)

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Fixing Healthcare is a co-production of Dr. Robert Pearl and Jeremy Corr. Subscribe to the show via Apple Podcasts or wherever you find podcasts. Join the conversation or suggest a guest by following the show on Twitter and LinkedIn.