Patients Who Deceive: Assessment and Management of Risk in Providing Health Care and Financial Benefits (American Series in Behavioral Science and Law) [Hardcover]

Loren Pankratz (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 264 pages
• Publisher: Charles C Thomas Pub Ltd (June 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0398068666
• ISBN-13: 978-0398068660
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 7.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,583,705 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Skillful, well-illustrated analyses of complex phenomena., July 1, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Patients Who Deceive: Assessment and Management of Risk in Providing Health Care and Financial Benefits (American Series in Behavioral Science and Law) (Hardcover)

"Patients Who Deceive" illustrates a rich spectrum of problematic patient behavior. The chapters that cover specific diagnostic categories are illustrated with case examples that the author has skillfully drawn from his clinical practice. He helps the reader understand why one conclusion fits better than another. Even within a particular diagnosis, the cases he describes are widely varied, which makes the examples all the more welcome.

One chapter I found particularly illuminating, "Assessment Misadventure," is presumably a variation of the legal concept of "treatment misadventure." Here he describes patients who appear deceptive at first glance but for whom other explanations are found to account for their disturbing behavior.

A colleague who teaches both bioethics and law and medicine is confident that "Patients Who Deceive" will become an invaluable resource for both practitioners and students of health law--as well as for mental health and medical professionals. I agree.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Lots of rich clinical information, but sloppily written, March 14, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Patients Who Deceive: Assessment and Management of Risk in Providing Health Care and Financial Benefits (American Series in Behavioral Science and Law) (Paperback)

I was disappointed in this book. This was partly because I have long admired the author's work; he has written much of value about malingering, deception, factitious disorder etc. Unfortunately, the current book does not match up to the author's usual high quality. The tone is "gee whizz look at this" rather than a sober account of a troubling and fascinating area of clinical practice. The book needed much tighter editing. On balance I'm not sorry I bought the book as it has much useful clinical material in the form of clinician's "war stories". But that's all it has.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Another Perspective..., September 22, 2009

By 

Twig (Somwhere in the U.S.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Patients Who Deceive: Assessment and Management of Risk in Providing Health Care and Financial Benefits (American Series in Behavioral Science and Law) (Paperback)

This book by Loren Pankratz does more damage to the quality of patient health care in America than it does good. The fact is that the amount of patients who "deceive" health care workers are a small percentage of the whole. Yes, a large portion of patients are wrong about what they think they have, but that is because they are not as knowledgeable in the field of medicine as doctors. That's the doctor's job, to diagnose and treat. Doctor's shouldn't even be concerned with who's faking what illness and just do the job they are trained for. They are not psychologists like Dr. Loren Pankratz, they are medical professionals in the business of physically helping people. They get paid whether the patient is faking it or not.

With that said, my wife had a doctor who she trusted. After only a couple tests, he decided she was faking her illness and wrote that she was a hypochondriac in her medical file in order to warn future doctors. After that, no one took her seriously. I was in the military at the time and as I was switching duty stations, I was able to sign out her medical records. I read the doctor's assessment and ripped it out. It was obvious to me she wasn't faking it. When we got to my new duty station, the doctor's there diagnosed her with Endometriosis. Although their isn't a cure for it, we felt relieved and she felt vindicated. She has to live with the physical pain and discomfort, but not with the mental anguish of everyone believing she is crazy or a pathological liar out for sympathy.

I'm not saying my wife's doctor read Loren Pankratz's ridiculous book, but I wouldn't be surprised if he did since it was around the same time she was mistreated and misdiagnosed. To have our doctors more concerned or even paranoid about who is deceiving who, is dangerous to us, the patient and is unjust. If the patient says something is wrong with them, then the doctor should just accept there is something wrong and do what they can to help. In the end, it's the right thing to do.