The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 275 No 7375 p600
12 November 2005

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Inform patients about unfunded medicines

It is unethical to withhold information about treatments from patients because of concerns about their capacity to pay, even if such discussions cause distress to some patients, a group of Australian oncologists argue in last week’s BMJ (2005;331:1075).

The authors surveyed the attitudes of 184 Australian oncologists to three clinical scenarios in which treatment with a hypothetical unsubsidised drug was associated with a significant clinical benefit. Across the scenarios, only 28–41 per cent of oncologists said they would discuss the unsubsidised treatment options, mainly because of concerns about the potential psychological and emotional effect these discussions might have on patients and families.

However, the authors say that it is inappropriate for doctors to make an evaluation of what is in a person’s overall interests. “Not only does withholding information about unsubsidised drugs fail to respect autonomy, it may not be in the patient’s best interests,” they argue.