Features
Medical intimidation and duress: The dark side of healthcare
Medical intimidation and duress are two phenomena that can have a profound impact on patients’ experiences and outcomes in the healthcare system.
These behaviours, often perpetrated by healthcare providers, can take many forms, from subtle manipulation to overt coercion.
In this article, we will explore the complexities of medical intimidation and duress, their consequences, and strategies for prevention and mitigation.
What is medical
intimidation?
Medical intimidation refers to situations where healthcare providers use their authority, expertise, or position to coerce, manipulate, or bully patients into making decisions that may not be in their best interests.
This can include verbal aggression, condescending language, or withholding information to influence patient decisions.
Medical intimidation can be overt, such as yelling or belittling, or subtle, such as using technical jargon to confuse or intimidate patients.
What is medical duress?
Medical duress occurs when healthcare providers use coercive tactics, such as threats or pressure, to force patients into undergoing specific treatments or procedures.
This can involve explicit or implicit threats, such as withholding necessary care or services if the patient does not comply with the provider’s recommendations. Medical duress can be particularly damaging, as patients may feel trapped, anxious, or fearful, which can negatively impact their physical and emotional well-being.
Consequences of medical
intimidation and duress
The consequences of medical intimidation and duress can be severe and far-reaching. Some of the potential consequences include:
Decreased trust: Medical intimidation and duress can erode trust between patients and healthcare providers, making it more challenging to establish effective care relationships.
Poor health outcomes: When patients feel coerced or intimidated, they may be less likely to adhere to treatment plans or disclose important information, leading to suboptimal health outcomes.
Legal and ethical implications: Medical intimidation and duress can raise legal and ethical concerns, potentially violating patients’ rights to informed consent and autonomy.
Prevention and mitigation strategies
Fortunately, there are strategies that can help prevent and mitigate medical intimidation and duress. Some of these include:
Patient-centered care: Fostering a patient-centered approach, where healthcare providers prioritise patients’ needs, values, and preferences, can help prevent medical intimidation and duress.
Clear communication: Ensuring clear, respectful, and empathetic communication can help build trust and reduce the risk of misunderstandings.
Support systems: Establishing support systems, such as patient advocates or counseling services, can provide patients with resources and guidance to navigate complex healthcare situations.
The role of healthcare providers
Healthcare providers play a critical role in preventing and mitigating medical intimidation and duress. Some strategies that providers can use include:
Active listening: Providers can use active listening skills to ensure that patients feel heard and understood.
Empathy and compassion: Providers can demonstrate empathy and compassion, acknowledging patients’ fears and concerns.
Clear and respectful communication: Providers can communicate clearly and respectfully, avoiding jargon and technical terms that may confuse patients.
The role of patients
Patients also have a critical role to play in preventing and mitigating medical intimidation and duress. Some strategies that patients can use include:
Assertive communication: Patients can communicate assertively, expressing their needs and concerns clearly and respectfully.
Seeking support: Patients can seek support from family, friends, or patient advocates if they feel intimidated or coerced.
Advocating for themselves: Patients can advocate for themselves, asking questions and seeking clarification when needed.
Conclusion
Medical intimidation and duress are serious issues that can have a profound impact on patients’ experiences and outcomes in the healthcare system.
By understanding the complexities of these phenomena and implementing strategies for prevention and mitigation, healthcare providers can create a more supportive and respectful environment for patients.
Patients, too, can take steps to advocate for themselves and assert their rights. By working together, we can build a healthcare system that prioritises patients’ needs, values, and preferences.
By Robert Ekow Grimmond-Thompson
Attention-Deficit or Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is often mistaken for laziness or indiscipline. In consulting rooms across Accra and in reports from school teachers, the pattern repeats: children who are bright but forgetful, parents who feel helpless, teachers who see incompleteness.
Research is clear-Barkley (2015) and others describe ADHD as a difference in the brain’s regulation of alertness, impulse and working memory, not a lack of effort.
The family’s role begins with structure. Regular sleep, predictable meal and homework times, and a simple visual list (uniform → books → water → corridor) provide the external scaffolding of these children need. Praise what is completed—“You opened the book and wrote the first sentence”-instead of rebuking what is missing.
Schools can help by seating the child front-row and centre, giving short written plus verbal instructions, allowing brief movement breaks, using quiet nonverbal cues and, where possible, grading effort and method as well as neatness. These adjustments reduce conflict and raise submission rates without lowering standards.
Couples and caregivers should share roles: one grounds, one pivots, and both protect rest. Shame-“bad parenting, bad child”-needs replacing with fact: different wiring, needs scaffolding.
Outcomes improve not by promises of perfection but by daily routines, clear limits and warmed connection. One homework slot kept, one instruction chunked, one calm repair after blurting-these small wins shift the family climate and let the child be seen beyond the label.
Resource
• CPAC (award-winning Mental Health and Counselling Facility): 0559850604 / 0551428486
Source: REV. COUNSELLOR PRINCE OFFEI’s insights on special needs support, relationships, and mental health in Ghana. He is a leading mental health professional, lecturer, ADR Expert/Arbitrator, renowned author, and marriage counsellor at COUNSELLOR PRINCE & ASSOCIATES CONSULT (CPAC COUNSELLOR TRAINING INSTITUTE) – 0551428486 /0559850604.
WEBSITES:
https://princeoffei22.wixsite.com/author
https://princeoffei22.wixsite.com/website
After two weeks of hectic activity up north, I drove to the Tamale airport, parked the car at the Civil Aviation car park as usual, paid the usual parking fee and boarded the plane for Accra.
Over the last two weeks, I had shuffled between three sites where work was close to completion.
One was a seed warehouse, where farmers would come and pick up good quality maize, sorghum and other planting material.
The other was a health facility for new mothers, where they were given basic training on good nutrition and small scale business.
And the third was a set of big boreholes for three farming communities.
The projects usually ran on schedule, but a good deal of time was spent building rapport with the local people, to ensure that they would be well patronised and maintained.
It was great to be working in a situation where one’s work was well appreciated. But it certainly involved a lot of work, and proactivity. And I made sure that I recorded updates online before going to bed in the evening.
When the plane took off, my mind shifted to issues in Accra, the big city. The young guys at my office had done some good work. They had secured five or six houses on a row in a good part of the city, and were close to securing the last.
When we got this property, unusually, Abena greeted them casually, and appeared to be comfortable in the guy’s company.
I was quite disappointed to hear that, because until the last few weeks, it seemed as if Abena and I were heading in a good direction. Apart from the affection I had for her, I liked her family. I decided to take it easy, and allow things to fall in whatever direction.
Normally I would take a taxi to her house from the airport, and pick her up to my place. This time I went to my sisters’ joint, where they sat by me while I enjoyed a drink and a good meal.
“So Little Brother,” Sister Beesiwa said, “what is it we are hearing about our wife-to-be?”
“When did you conclude that she was your wife-to-be? And what have you heard? I’ve only heard a couple of whispers. Ebo and Nana Kwame called to say that they have seen her in the company of—”
“Well said Little Brother,” Sister Baaba said. “By the way, Nana Kwame called an hour ago to ask if you had arrived because he could not reach you. Someone had told him that Jennifer had boasted to someone that she had connected Abena to a wealthy guy who would take care of her.”
I was beginning to understand. For some time, Abena had been asking me what work I was doing up north, and after I had explained it to her, she kept asking. So I think Jennifer fed her with false stories about me in order to get her to move to the Ampadu guy. Jennifer must have been well compensated for her efforts.
“In that case,” Sister Beesiwa said, “you should be glad that Abena is out of your way. She is easily swayed. Anyone who would make a relationship decision based on a friend’s instigation lacks good sense. I hope the guy is as wealthy as they say?”
“Who gets wealthy running a supermarket chain in Ghana?” Sister Baaba said. “Our supermarkets sell mostly imported products. Look at the foreign exchange rate. And remember that Ghanaians buy second-hand shoes and clothes. Supermarkets are not good business here. Perhaps they are showing off that they are wealthy, but in reality they are not doing so well.”
“Amen to that,” I said. “I’m beginning to understand. For some time, Abena had been asking me what work I was doing up north, and after I had explained it to her, she kept asking. So I think Jennifer fed her with false stories about me in order to get her to move to the Ampadu guy. Jennifer must have been well compensated for her efforts.”
She said that David Forson was only an agricultural extension worker in the north who did not have the resources to take care of a beautiful girl like her. And apart from being wealthy, the guy comes from an influential family, so Abena had done much better leaving a miserable civil servant like you for him.
“Amen to that,” I said. “I’m beginning to understand. For some time, Abena had been asking me what work I was doing up north, and after I had explained it to her, she kept asking. We would be able to sell all five houses to one big corporate customer, and we had already spoken to a property dealer who was trying to find a buyer in order to get a good commission.
That was going to be my biggest break. I had asked the boys to look for a large tract of land on the outskirts of the city where we could develop our own set of buildings, blocks of storey houses and upscale apartments. Things were going according to plan, and I was quietly excited. However, things were not going so well regarding my relationship with Abena.
My buddies Ebo and Nana Kwame had called to say that they met Abena and her friend Jennifer enjoying lunch with a guy, and Ebo believed that Jennifer was ‘promoting’ an affair between Jennifer and the guy. They were of the view that the promotion seemed to be going in the guy’s favour, because only an agricultural extension worker in the north who did not have the resources to take care of a beautiful girl like her.
And apart from being wealthy, the guy comes from an influential family, so Abena had done much better leaving a miserable civil servant like you for him.
“As I’ve already said, I will stop by her place, but I will mind my own business from now. Hey, let’s talk family. How are our parents? And my brothers-in-law? And my nephews and nieces? Why don’t we meet on Sunday? I’m going to drop my bags at my place, and go to see Mama and Dad.”
