A new study has revealed some alarming statistics when it comes to doctor/patient relationships. Perhaps in an effort to avoid medical malpractice lawsuits, 11 percent of doctors say they lied to a patient in the last year. And about one in five of them said they have not fully disclosed a mistake because they were afraid a patient would sue them.

The study, which was published in the most recent issue of the publication Health Affairs, also shows that over a third of doctors polled either only "somewhat agreed" or "disagreed" that doctors should disclose all medical mistakes to patients.

According to an article on MSNBC, one of the researchers wrote in the issue, "Our findings raise concerns that some patients might not receive complete and accurate information from their physicians."

It should be noted that the physicians polled were not asked to describe the circumstances under which they lied to patients. And whether they were fibbing about medical mistake or something else is not entirely clear, either.

That being said, a medical ethicist at the University of Pennsylvania calls it "inexcusable" that so many physicians could withhold mistakes.

MSNBC also performed its own poll, asking 100 doctors how they acted after making a medical mistake. 24 percent of them responded that they had never made a medical error and 55 percent say they disclosed the mistake. And a large number of them, 21 percent, say they had kept an error from a patient.

This is worrisome. Physicians need to be held accountable for their errors, particularly since they so clearly can have a negative impact on a person's life.

Source: MSNBC, "Many docs tell white lies, study finds," Feb. 8, 2012