The right to a diagnosis?

doi:10.1136/bmj.b956

Published 9 March 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b956
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b956

Letters

Polycystic ovary syndrome

The right to a diagnosis?

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Balen and colleagues are concerned that too exclusive a definitionof polycystic ovary syndrome would leave many without a diagnosis,even though they have equal rights to medical care.¹ They seeka blurring of the criteria for diagnosis to give a patient hertherapeutic right.

There is nothing new about treating first and considering theminutiae of diagnosis after. Pappworth coined the phrase "diagnosticgreed" to describe rigid doctors who require every physicalsign and classic symptom before making a diagnosis.² And whichhonest doctor would deny sometimes deciding on a course of managementand then making the diagnosis fit? But Balen and colleagues’proposal goes a step further, half suggesting that a diagnosisis a human right.

Common experience reinforces the view that explicit diagnosis,however dire, can be therapeutic. However, it is dangerous toeven half imply that failing to diagnose deprives the patientof an inalienable right. . . . [Full text of this article]

Arnold G Zermansky, general practitioner¹

¹ Park Edge Practice, Leeds LS14 1HX

zermansky@btinternet.com