Should doctors tell patients the truth? Indeed, asks Dr. Charles C. Lund in the current Annals of Internal Medicine, "Is it possible to convey the 'truth' about a serious matter to a patient?" The Boston cancer specialist's own answer: "Blunt 'truth' is not good [but] avoidance of the 'truth' may be as bad."
If a doctor abruptly announces, "This is cancer," his patients will react in many ways. Eight out of ten, says Dr. Lund, might consent to surgery but "of these half might never forgive the doctor for his brutality." One patient out of ten might "believe erroneously that cancer is...
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