PHILOS 2D03 Chapter Notes - Chapter Patient confidentiality: Glossary Of Tennis Terms, Medical Ethics
20 Mar 2018
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Readings 29 roger higgs on telling patients the truth". But concerns of the patient are different: for many, fear of the unknown is the worst thing: direct information seems hard to obtain. It is difficult to know what to say when the future of a patient is not certain: whether to tell the truth and how much to tell is a regular issue. Most ethical thinkers hold that truthfulness is a principle of conduct, but that it is capable of coming into conflict with other principles. The fear that professionals have of upsetting people seems to have elevated this argument. It is undeniable that blunt communication of unpleasant truths can bring about distress beyond its natural limits. But even if it true that the short-term effect of telling the truth may cause the patient psychological disturbance, in the long term the balance seems to definitely sing the other way.
