The perspective of the patient is the most important determinant as to whether an adverse event has occurred. The patients aren't trained to identify when an adverse event has occurred like physicians, but they are knowledgeable enough to know when there body isn't feeling right. I feel that the patients perspective is more detailed and honest because patients have nothing to gain by crying wolf in a clinical trial (assuming the proper legal procedures has been taken). The patient usually know how their body feels when it is healthy, so the physicians need to see and hear their patients perspective on the event to figure out what went wrong. Who else is going to determine if an adverse event has occurred? The physician can only go by what the patient tells him or her; unless there is visible evidence an adverse event has occurred. The physicians deal with so many different patients it becomes hard for them to keep up with the detail of every patients treatment. Yes, they can read and record information on the patient, but then those tend to focus on the major issues of the clinical trials. Physicians cannot have a complete understanding of the drugs safety without the patients perspective.