The Communication of Diagnostic Information by Doctors to Patients in the Consultation

In recent years research on communication in the medical field has increasingly developed. In particular the interaction between patient and doctor, as it develops during a consultation, has become a very interesting field of analysis. The approach to diseases and to patients has changed throughout the years and recently the trend is to consider the patient as a partner, as someone who cooperates in his own well-being. The cooperation between patient and doctor can be made easier through a more effective communication, above all during the crucial moment of the medical consultation. Two main moments in this interaction are diagnosis and prognosis. This paper will analyze them more precisely as speech acts of a particular kind. Searle's taxonomy of speech acts will be used to classify them and also to understand ways in which they are peculiar. With regard to diagnosis, it will be shown how the performance of this speech act triggers a causal chain that, through the suggestion of a specific treatment, brings about changes in reality which could involve institutions at different levels and degrees of commitment. Moreover, the paper will hint at various perlocutionary effects entailed by the prognosis, which may strongly influence the patients' behaviours.