Abstract
Concerns about trust are long-standing, although mistrust may be increasing. Daily life could not flourish without trust. It can be defined in a variety of ways, but health-care programs have not demonstrated proven interventions by which it can be increased. It is intrinsically and instrumentally valuable. Good health care requires trust in systems as well as individuals. Trustworthiness is a virtue, whereas not all are trusted even if trustworthy. Trust functions at different levels of knowledge. An ethos of mistrust leads to a contractual relationship, with an infinite regress as to where one places trust. There is a paradox between trust and rationality: this depends on how rationality is construed, but in some situations we may trust against the evidence. The uncertain outcomes in medicine mean that sometimes trust may lead to disappointment, but trust should not automatically be abandoned.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alper PR (1988) Trust at risk. West J Med 149:489–490
Anscombe GEM (1958) Modern moral philosophy. In: Crisp R, Slote M (eds) Virtue ethics. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 26–44, 1997
Aristotle (1984) Nicomachean ethics. In: Barnes J (ed) Complete works. Princeton University Press, Princeton 1094a1
Baker J (2008) Trust and rationality. In: Sosa E, Kim J, Fantl J, McGrath M (eds) Epistemology: an anthology. Blackwell, Oxford, p 808
Brewin T (1985) Truth, trust and paternalism. Lancet 8453:490–492
Caplan AL (1996) Odds and ends; trust and the debate over medical futility. Ann Intern Med 125:668–669
Ford J (2007) Public trust in doctors undented. BMJ 335:465
Fukuyama F (1995) Trust: the social virtue. The Free Press, New York, ch 2
General Medical Council (2013) Good medical practice. General Medical Council, London, p4, para 1
Hall MA, Dugan E, Zheng B, Mishra AK (2001) Trust in physicians and medical institutions: what is it, can it be measured, and does it matter? Milbank Q 79:613–639
Hall MA, Camacho F, Dugan E, Balkrishnan R (2002) Trust in the medical profession: conceptual and measurement issues. Health Serv Res 37:1419–1439
Hardin R (2005) Trust. In: Honderich T (ed) Oxford companion to philosophy. Oxford University Press, Oxford, p 926
Hillman AL (1996) Mediators of patient trust. JAMA 280:1703–1704
Dibben MR, Morris SE, Lean ME (2000) Situational trust and co-operative partnerships between physicians and their patients: a theoretical explanation transferable from business practice. QJM 93:55–61
Doctors in Society (2005) Medical professionalism in a changing world. Royal College of Physicians of London, p 2.8
Ingelfinger FJ (1972) Why trust the professionals? N Engl J Med 286:263–264
Ingelfinger FJ (1980) Arrogance. N Engl J Med 304:1507–1511
Ipsos Mori (2014) Trust in professions. https://www.ipsos-mori.com/researchpublications/researcharchive/15/Trust-in-Professions.aspx. Accessed 01 Aug 2015
Jones CN (2007) How much longer will patients trust us? BMJ 335:1226
Kirkpatrick E (ed) (1983) Chambers 20th century dictionary. Chambers, Edinburgh
Locke J (1663) Essays in the laws of nature. In: W van Lampen (ed) Clarendon Press, Oxford 1954. Quoted in: Hollis M. Trust within reason. Cambridge University Press 1998, Cambridge
Mayer RD, Davis JH, Schoorman FD (1995) An integrative model of organisation trust. Acad Manag Rev 20:709–733
Mechanic D (2004) In my chosen doctor I trust. BMJ 329:1418–1419
Mechanic D, Schlesinger M (1996) The impact of managed care on patients' trust in medical care and their physicians. JAMA 275:1693–1697
O’Neill O (2002a) A question of trust. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
O’Neill O (2002b) Autonomy and trust in bioethics. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. This section follows O’Neill’s account, especially, pp 84–99
Parekh AK (2011) Winning their trust. N Engl J Med 364:e51
Pellegrino E (1991) Trust and distrust in professional ethics. In: Pellegrino ED, Veatch RM, Langan JP (eds) Ethics, trust and the professions. Georgetown University Press, Washington DC, pp 69–92
Pellegrino ED (2008a) Moral choice, the good of the patient, and the patient’s good. In: Pellegrino ED, Engelhardt HT, Jotterand F (eds) The philosophy of medicine reborn. University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame, pp 163–186
Pellegrino ED (2008b) The internal morality of clinical medicine. In: Pellegrino ED, Engelhardt HT, Jotterand F (eds) The philosophy of medicine reborn. University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame, p 74
Rolfe A, Cash-gibson I, Car J, Sheikh A, McKinstry B (2014) Interventions for improving patients' trust in doctors and groups of doctors. Cochrane Database Syst Rev (3). Art No.: CD004134. doi:1002/14651858. CD004134.pub3
Shortell SM, Waters TM, Clarke KWB, Budetti PP (1998) Physicians as double agents. Maintaining trust in an era of multiple accountabilities. JAMA 280:1102–1108
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this entry
Cite this entry
Saunders, J. (2015). Trust and Mistrust Between Patients and Doctors. In: Schramme, T., Edwards, S. (eds) Handbook of the Philosophy of Medicine. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8706-2_20-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8706-2_20-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Online ISBN: 978-94-017-8706-2
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Religion and PhilosophyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Humanities