Comments on: Why Aren’t Japanese Doctors Telling The Truth?

By: Lava Yuki

Lava Yuki — Fri, 24 Jan 2014 09:42:00 +0000

Over prescribing nd lying to patients? As a medical student, that seems unethical. I know that over prescribing is heavily controlled where i live due to dangerous drug interactions and death from overdose.

But doctors here are trained at “breaking bad news” like cancer, so there is no need to lie. Anyway, if you were to treat cancer and such, patients have to sign consent forms etc… So no point in mis informing.

By: Mpenaud

Mpenaud — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 15:57:00 +0000

Yep, Agree. 2 years ago I had a suspicion of appendicitis on a plane going from Fance to Japan and 2 japanese doctors were called and I’ve never been less reassured in my life with lots of “tabun” (maybe) and “it might be appendicitis, you might be ok until we arrive”. European doctors are assertive and “maybe” is not a word that you want to hear from a doctor. I was really frightenened (and alone) on a looong flight until I managed to get to a clinic in Kyoto (forget the smallish clinic at Kansai airport where they speak only japanese… and “appendicitis” and “blood sample” were missing from my vocabulary though luckiliy I had a dictionary.
I guess what we really like about the japanese (politeness, being non assertive all the time) is exactly what prevents them from being good doctors though the doctor at the clinic in Kyoto was great.
One thing it taught me is to prepare before I leave (coz the consulate is no help either and you might not speak the language) so now I have with me a list of French speaking doctors coz when you’re sick is not the time to look for one.

By: Viet

Viet — Sun, 06 May 2012 22:02:00 +0000

Yowza. Good thing you were educated on the manner. Antibiotics wouldn’t do crap for viruses, if anything, it would makes things worse by weakening your immune system :(

By: TC

TC — Sun, 06 May 2012 21:55:00 +0000

Reminds me of the flu that I caught last fall. I was vomiting, dizzy, with a slight fever and cough. I had someone from my host campus to help translate what the doctor said. By the time I was done seeing him, he barely used a stethoscope when he told me I need antibiotics for a virus. “Antibiotics” and “virus” in the same sentence? Nuh-uh. I acquiesced and bought the meds. But I didn’t take them and healed up by the end of the week. My trust in Japanese doctors really took a blow that day. My family also has a history of melanoma, so this worries me a bit… Makes me think twice before I seek out a Japanese dermatologist.

By: Zaywex

Zaywex — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 05:02:00 +0000

There’s a way to look up what the medicine is online in a Japanese catalog right?

By: Pasukaru

Pasukaru — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 14:31:00 +0000

I think it's sad that Japan doctors won't tell the truth to their patient, but I'd say that it's kind of the same situation everywhere. I work in intensive care unit and emergency in canada, and not that Doctors won'T tell the truth, but many tend to ''throw the ball'' to their colleagues. By this I mean for example that they'll say : ''Oh yes there is something but i can't say for sure what it is exactly, so i'll ask [put a body system here] Specialist to see what is the problem'' When they actually know what it is, but just won't be willing to tell the truth to the patient OR their family. Why? Most of the time, they don't like telling someone that they're going to die (Who would blame them, I wouldn't like to announce that either). But the point is that in many occasions, many specialist will see the patient wihout telling exactly the entire truth but will treat the illness anyway (if a treatment can be done). So the patient stays ignorant but is still treated for something he doesn't know. There are also sometimes a minority that see a patient that ask questions as a nuisance (motsly elder doctors) because they don't like explaining and see themlseves as ''godlike'' and think that asking question is questionning their capacity to diagnose AND find treatments. So do doctors lie everywhere in the world? I'd say YES because, unfortunatly, Everybody does =/