Hypochondriacs of America, this one's for you. —

By Kiera Butler ~ "As a lifelong hypochondriac, I've always been comforted by the Hippocratic oath." . . .

 What an excellent idea, having doctors pledge to put patients first. So I was less than thrilled to learn that doctors are under increasing pressure—from state legislatures, industry, and other groups—to break that oath by withholding key pieces of information from their patients. "We are very concerned about special interests attempting to influence our practices," says Valerie Arkoosh, president of the National Physicians Alliance (NPA). "We've seen state legislatures overreaching a lot with regard to doctor-patient relationship."

 Here are five things that—depending on where you live—your doctor could be keeping from you:

 Kiera Butler answers your green questions every week in her Econundrums  column. She was a hypochondriac even before she started researching germ warfare.


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