Next time you consider getting snippy with your doctor, think again.
According to a study conducted by researchers at University of Florida, being flippant with an MD can kill you. As reported in the Sacramento Bee, the study observed an actress being impolite to doctors who were treating her stand-in child — it was actually a small mannequin. But the ruder she got, the more likely the docs were to screw up.
They fell short in areas that included diagnostic accuracy, information sharing and therapy planning. The repercussions of all this are no joke. Medical mistakes play a role in 250,000 fatalities each year — and, according to the Bee, “40 percent of medical errors are due to patient rudeness.”
Though the doctors usually have their hearts in the right places, bitchiness apparently impacts them in ways beyond their control. “Even if doctors have the best intentions in mind, as they usually do, they cannot get over rudeness because it interferes with their cognitive functioning without an ability to control it,” said an author of the study in a statement.
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