ArticleJAMA network open2026
Patient Experiences of Disrespectful or Judgmental Language in Medical Records.
Article in JAMA network open, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Importance: The 21st Century Cures Act made clinical notes broadly accessible to patients. However, the frequency and patient-perceived consequences of disrespectful or judgmental language (DJL) in medical records among the general US population remain unknown. Objectives: To (1) quantify the frequency of participant-reported DJL in medical records; (2) characterize patient-anticipated consequences; and (3) examine factors associated with DJL and documentation trust in clinicians. Design, Setting, and Participants: Cross-sectional, nationally weighted survey of 500 US adults conducted from November 21 to December 4, 2025, using YouGov's nonprobability-based online panel. Main Outcomes and Measures: Descriptive statistics characterized experience of DJL in medical records (patient portal users) or health care (nonportal users) and patient-anticipated consequences. Adjusted odds ratios (aORs) and 95% CIs were estimated using multivariable logistic regression including sociodemographics and clinical factors for 2 outcomes: DJL and documentation trust. Results: Among 500 respondents (mean [SE] age, 48.0 [0.9] years; 253 [51.0%] women, 53 [11.0%] Black, 80 [18.0%] Hispanic [any race], and 315 [60.0%] White, 358 portal users [71.2%]), a total of 83 participants reported DJL: 58 of 358 (17.1%) portal users in their own medical records and/or that of a loved one, and 25 of 142 nonportal users (15.6%) in health care encounters. Patient-reported consequences included 377 of 500 respondents (74.7%) who anticipated DJL would influence subsequent care from a new clinician, and 373 (73.3%) who anticipated worse health outcomes, such as wrong medication prescribing or diagnostic errors. Furthermore, 435 of 500 respondents (85.5%) anticipated they would be less likely to return to the clinician. In adjusted analyses, patients who reported low income (compared with high income: aOR, 2.64; 95% CI, 1.18-5.91; P = .03) had a greater likelihood of reporting DJL, as did those with a diagnosis of chronic pain (compared with no diagnosis of chronic pain: aOR, 3.25; 95% CI, 1.46-7.26; P = .004). The experience of DJL was associated with diminished documentation trust in clinicians (aOR, 5.76; 95% CI, 2.90-11.46; P < .001). Conclusions and Relevance: In this survey study, 1 in 6 US adults reported DJL in medical records (or in health care experiences for nonportal users), disproportionately affecting those with low income or chronic pain, and DJL was associated with diminished clinician documentation trust. Patient-anticipated consequences such as diminished intent to return to clinician suggest important quality of care and system-level implications. Realizing the promise of health information transparency will require concurrent reform in respectful language in clinical documentation and health care encounters.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.