Truth must be told. What/ why will you hide from a person who is about to die in a couple of months from now because he/she is suffering from a catastrophic disease?

A consultant hiding a patients medical report is not ethical. The patient has the right to know exactly what is wrong with him/her.

How to go about it?

The practitioner must be friendly while talking about such a sensitive issue with both the patient and his/her family members. Such times are crucial and intense. Handling these with care, immense support and love only helps to strike a balance and prevents panic.

Truth must be told. What/ why will you hide from a person who is about to die in a couple of months from now because he/she is suffering from a catastrophic disease?

A consultant hiding a patients medical report is not ethical. The patient has the right to know exactly what is wrong with him/her.

How to go about it?

The practitioner must be friendly while talking about such a sensitive issue with both the patient and his/her family members. Such times are crucial and intense. Handling these with care, immense support and love only helps to strike a balance and prevents panic.

Following

When a disease turns malignant, perhaps it doesn't remain unknown to the concerned patient anyway. The patient may not be knowing what exactly the disease is or the extent of its severity. Hiding of truth is, therefore, a difficult task for the family members. For a dying patient they may inform......but very carefully, without exposing all the negative facts, in a humane way, with enough encouragement and hope.

I think the doctor must honestly share with the patient the details of their conditions, their prognosis, etc. I think this may come under the hypocratic oath

Sorry for the typo; it should read Hippocratic oath. So much for auto-spell checkers

It depends upon the patient and her/his mental tructure/strength/resilience. Considering all these aspects, if the treating doctor feels that it would not be good for the patient to know about the disease, the doctor should do accordingly. After all, the whole system is meant for the benefit of the patient.

Tell the truth in a simple way

Dear Dr. Hamid,

Alphabetically, the doctor must tell them the truth, but in a careful way and in a simple manner.

Kind regards,

Naseer Almukhtar

In my opinion bitter truth is better than sweet lie.

In fact, the patient himself must understand the cause of the disease by indirect signs from the Internet and don't panic, but to take the outcome philosophically. How many we know of cases when doctors knowing the real diagnosis of a patient appoint him fake treatment to make money. Therefore, patients should philosophically meet the onset of an incurable disease and live the rest of their life with dignity and muzhestinvenno and pray for every day lived and thank God for it. We must understand that we are all mortal and like any living organism we will someday merge with nature.

Difficult situation ... I think it is better to adequately inform the patient. The first person to do so must be the attending physician. Then the family should give love and much support to their emotionality. Never leave or ignore the problem. That is lack of love. Help you live your reality with love. Nobody chooses to get sick ...

Thanks for the question

The truth should be told because, as someone who has spent may hours with such patients, they usually guess the truth and a conspiracy of silence ensues. I work with children and have had them tell me that they don't want me to tell their parents because their parents couldn't handle it. They inferred the truth through various means but believe the parents don't know. When I ask them why they think the parents couldn't handle the information, the children say that if the parent could handle it they would have talked with the child about it by now. The suffering of children deprived of the opportunity to discuss their concerns and fears because of the silence is far worse than when told and helped to deal with what all that involves. Publications on the issue correspond with my experiences.

Also patients--young or old--can't be expected to agree to or cooperate with therapy unless they know the purpose of therapies that will make them feel sicker, or to make the decision about whether or not their chances of survival are great enough or worth the time to continue to endure the therapies, or opt for palliative measures only.

All that said, I agree with the other respondents that the way in which the information is conveyed is critical.

Hope is a vital tool of survival. In my opinion, I think the truth isn't the best