Most Americans have positive overall views of medical doctors, and roughly half or more believe they can routinely count on medical doctors to do a good job, to show concern for patients’ interests and to provide fair and accurate information. But about half of Americans see professional misconduct as at least a moderately big problem, and many are skeptical that doctors are usually transparent about conflicts of interest or take responsibility for mistakes, according to a new Pew Research Center report.

Overall views

74% of Americans have a positive view of medical doctors.

Trust and mistrust

About half or more Americans say medical doctors usually care about their patients’ best interests (57%), do a good job providing diagnoses and treatment recommendations (49%) or provide fair and accurate information when making recommendations (48%).

But there is more concern over issues of scientific integrity: 15% say doctors are transparent about potential conflicts of interest all or most of the time, and 12% say doctors usually admit and take responsibility for mistakes.

Half of Americans say professional misconduct among medical doctors is at least a moderately big problem. Just 20% say misconduct by doctors usually leads to serious consequences.

Other notable findings

• Adults ages 50 and older are more likely than those under age 50 to trust medical doctors. For instance, a majority of those 50 and older (56%) say doctors do a good job providing diagnoses and treatment recommendations all or most of the time, compared with 42% of those under 50. And older adults (65%) are more likely than younger adults (49%) to believe medical doctors care about their patients’ best interests all or most of the time.
• Blacks (71%) and Hispanics (63%) are more likely than whites (43%) to see professional misconduct among medical doctors as at least a moderately big problem.
• Medical doctors are the most widely known of the six types of scientists on the Center’s survey. A large majority of U.S. adults say they are familiar with the role of medical doctors because of news reports (69%) or a personal relationship (65%).
• People who are more familiar with medical doctors have more positive and trusting views of them. For example, among those who say they know a lot about the work of medical doctors, most (65%) say doctors care about the best interest of their patients all or most of the time, compared with 53% of those who know only a little about medical doctors.