A paper just published in JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2821693#google_vignette, examined the question of trust patients had in their doctors and hospitals from the Covid era, April 2020, to early 2024. It was found that there was a massive decline in trust from 71.5 percent in April 2020, to 40.1 percent in January 2024. A lower level of trust was "associated with decreased likelihood of vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 as well as influenza; these associations were not explained by political affiliation, nor fully accounted for by trust in science, suggesting some specificity for medicine per se."
In fact, the authors conclude that "that the decrease in trust during the pandemic could have long-lasting public health implications. If so, effective interventions aimed at restoring trust could have benefits, not only for future pandemics, but for health in the US more generally, at least in terms of vaccination. In examining reasons for low trust, financial conflicts of interest, a longstanding area of academic investigation in medicine, remain a major factor associated with mistrust, concerns that may have been amplified during the pandemic." As detailed below, the open-text responses enabled people surveyed to say what they really thought. Doctors and hospitals favoured profits over patient care and wellbeing, gave poor quality care often to the point of negligence, and medical decisions were highly influenced by Big Pharma. It is something we have been saying for some time here, but at least the American public has come to believe it. But in Australian trust in doctors is much higher, at 67 percent:
The penny has not dropped yet, here.
https://brownstone.org/articles/trust-in-doctors-and-hospitals-plummets/
"A new paper in JAMA analyzes survey respondents in the US over the period of time right after the Covid pandemic started in April 2020 and through early 2024. It reveals a significant decline in trust in physicians and hospitals, dropping from 71.5% in April 2020, to 40.1% in January 2024. Lower trust levels were strongly associated with reduced likelihood of receiving Covid-19 vaccinations and boosters. Total shocker, right?
One incredibly interesting part of this study was the revealing of the open-text responses that survey respondents gave for their lack of trust. From the supplement, here are the top 4 themes why patients have lost trust.
1. Financial Motives Over Patient Care: This theme includes perceptions of healthcare as primarily profit-driven, where financial incentives outweigh patient welfare. Respondents believe that decisions are made based on profitability rather than the best interests of patients.
2. Poor Quality of Care and Negligence: Responses that mention experiences of neglect, inadequate care, misdiagnosis, or dismissive attitudes from healthcare providers fall under this category. This also includes perceptions of healthcare professionals not listening or taking patient concerns seriously.
3. Influence of External Entities and Agendas: Here, the focus is on the belief that decisions in healthcare are unduly influenced by pharmaceutical companies, government entities, or other external powers. This includes suspicions of dishonesty or withholding information for nonmedical reasons.
4. Discrimination and Bias: Responses indicating experiences or beliefs that healthcare providers exhibit bias, discrimination, or lack of cultural competency. This can include racial discrimination, gender bias, or insensitivity to patient backgrounds.
Another interesting analysis in the supplement was the inclusion of political affiliation. The tendency for Republicans and Independents to have lower trust overall than Democrats should not surprise anyone, as the polarization of vaccines, masks, and lockdowns made it clear that the left was in favor of doing anything at all in the name of combating Covid, no matter the cost.
As we witnessed firsthand in 2020 and 2021, and even today, the condescension, overt political motivations, and outright derision directed at those who were rationally skeptical of a brand-new vaccine, masks, and the extreme and harmful lockdown policies by medical practitioners and hospital systems have finally led to an inevitable consequence: the public simply does not trust them anymore. And not by a small margin—there has been a massive swing from majority trust to majority distrust. For anyone who was paying attention, this is not shocking.
For my part, I hope that the practitioners we truly need to rely on when we require medical care see this as a wake-up call and understand just how much damage they have done to their long-term doctor-patient relationships. Now, instead of starting from a place of trust, they are starting from a deficit. This is not just bad for their careers; it's bad for the patients."