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Doctor-patient friendship is a double-edged sword, affecting both patients and doctors, a new study claims.

Warning doctors not to befriend patients either online or offline, researchers claim doctors in the cyberworld are more likely to let their rapport with patients bloom beyond professional relationship. The claims were made on the basis of a survey involving 338 oncologists. The survey found that 59 percent of the doctors had difficulty in revealing truth to patients they liked, Daily Mail reported.

"The difficulty, if you hug and kiss patients, if you allow them to call you by your first name, is that quickly the relationship can become confused as a social one rather than a professional one. This becomes a problem for both sides. Doctors become confused," said Lesley Fallowfield, from Brighton and Sussex Medical School according to The Australian.

Prof. Fallowfield said that such doctors also make it difficult for patients to report problems with treatment. Patients may feel inhibitive to share discomfort during treatment, which is vital in critical medicine like oncology. The behaviour of doctors also affects patients.

"You don't want your doctor to start censoring themselves because they don't want to upset you. For example, if instead of having a painful conversation about palliative care, you recommend more (fruitless) chemotherapy with all its side effects, you really haven't done well by your patients," she said.

Nearly half the participants in the study published in The Lancet Oncology reported giving patients their personal numbers while 20 percent said they accepted social invitations. About 14 percent of the doctors were connected to their patients on Facebook.

The general medical council which regulates doctors admitted that social media is presents a challenge.