PHI 2396 Lecture 4: BIOETHICS ch 4 part 1
14 Dec 2017
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Medical writers content that there are good reasons for misleading or lying to patient. They say this because they believe that telling them the truth evoked feelings of panic, hopelessness and depressing in the patients that can worsen the patient"s condition, state of mind or health. Truthful disclosure must promote the welfare of the patient. In today"s age of patient autonomy and informed consent, such strong paternalistic ideas are less common. This is because physicians value truth-telling, professional standards and their jobs. Some physicians reject the argument of lying to the patients for their own well-being, saying that it exaggerated the harm done to patients by full disclosure. It also does not take into the account of the damage done to the patients by lying to them. In the long run more harm is done by lying to the patients.
