TY - JOUR T1 - Truth be told: not all nudging is bullshit JF - Journal of Medical Ethics JO - J Med Ethics SP - 547 LP - 547 DO - 10.1136/medethics-2017-104317 VL - 44 IS - 8 AU - Jennifer Blumenthal-Barby AU - Peter A Ubel Y1 - 2018/08/01 UR - http://jme.bmj.com/content/44/8/547.abstract N2 - ‘The fact about himself that the bullshitter hides, on the other hand, is that the truth-values of his statements are of no central interest to him; what we are not to understand is that his intention is neither to report the truth nor conceal it. It is just this lack of connection to a concern with truth—this indifference to how things really are—that is the essence of bullshit.’1           —Harry FrankfurtIn his paper, Nudging, informed consent, and bullshit, William Simkulet accuses doctors of being bullshitters when they knowingly influence patient decision making through means other than argument and reasoning, that is, through ‘nudges.’ In these instances, he contends that they care little about patient understanding or communicating the truth about the options and, instead, care only about presenting alternatives in ways that cause patients to do what the physicians think they should do.2 However, doctors can intend to enhance patient understanding at the same time that they try to influence patients’ choices. Consider a physician who wants her patient to get a vaccine. … ER -