The Doctor Will See You Now…but Not After Office Hours

iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — Most people want a doctor with a good bedside manner, but a new study indicates that care may be compromised if the patient-doctor relationship turns into a friendship.

A survey of 338 oncologists published in The Lancet Oncology shows 59 percent of doctors who have grown up in a “cyberworld” where formal distinctions are removed are more likely to let their relationship with patients expand beyond a professional connection.

Nearly half the respondents reported giving patients their personal numbers, while 20 percent said they accepted social invitations. About 14 percent of the MDs were connected to their patients on Facebook.

The study found that many of the doctors had difficulty revealing the truth to patients they liked.

Professor Lesley Fallowfield, one of the study’s authors, says it can become a problem for both sides. “The difficulty, if you hug and kiss patients, if you allow them to call you by your first name, is that quickly the relationship can become confused as a social one rather than a professional one,” Fallowfield tells The Australian.

Fallowfield says that may lead to patients feeling awkward when it comes to telling their doctor about discomfort they’re feeling during treatment.

Fallowfield also notes that too close of a relationship could prompt a doctor to hold back information because they don’t want to upset a patient. Fallowfield says, for example, a doctor would not have a patient’s best interest in mind if he or she recommended additional but pointless chemotherapy instead of having a truthful conversation about palliative care.

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