“This may hurt”: predictions in procedural disclosure may do harm

The practice of “procedural disclosure” involves clinicians providing a description of the sensations that they assume patients are likely to experience during a procedure. The presumed rationale is threefold: as a corollary of the principle of informed consent; as part of truth telling in the clinician-patient relationship that fosters trust; and to help patients cope with procedures. But this seemingly intuitive rationale has not been critically assessed. Subjective descriptions of sensations