Intended for healthcare professionals

Letters Effect of emotion on clinical judgment

On emotions and clinical judgment

BMJ 2020; 370 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m3723 (Published 25 September 2020) Cite this as: BMJ 2020;370:m3723
  1. Santhanam Sundar, consultant oncologist
  1. Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Nottingham NG5 1PB, UK
  1. sundar{at}oncology.org

All sorts of emotions can affect one’s judgment. Every day, everyone makes snap judgments of other people and their environment.1 Doctors, as professionals, do their best to keep an open mind and make informed judgments in their daily working life.23 To imply that doctors would be completely irrational when it comes to the wellbeing of their family members, as Morgan does,4 defies logic.

If involvement of a close family member is detrimental to the care of a patient, then we should be advising all our patients not to discuss their concerns with close family members before they choose a treatment option. If emotions adversely cloud judgment, then we should not trust parents to do their best for their children and should remove the children from their care.5 If emotions impair doctors’ performance, then sports loving doctors whose favourite team has lost should not be allowed to work the next day as negative emotions can impair their performance.6

The urge to preserve self and offspring is an inherent evolutionary attribute of all living beings. It is not morally or ethically wrong for doctors to put themselves in their patients’ shoes.

Footnotes

  • Competing interests: None declared.

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