Alright, I'm wondering what you all think. Someone is very sick. They go to the doctor, who sends him to the hospital. In the hospital they find out that the person has cancer spread all through his body, and probably won't survive it. Then they go to the patient. Here is where the debatable part starts. They can either tell him option A : Your chances of survival are slim, but we'll do everything in our power to try and make you healthy again OR B : Well sir, we just got the test results, and they're not that bad. We're just keeping you here so that we can be sure it doesn't spread anymore. It has been proven that when you tell them option B, they have a much bigger chance of surviving, of becoming healthy again. But it would be lieing to them. So what do you think. Should doctors go for option A or option B, and why?
I think the doctors should go for option b, the patient wil either find out himself that his cancer is fatal himself or he will get healed and will be thankful that the doctors lied to him. Either way it would be easy for the doctors to justify the lie... But, if it's clear that the patient will die, he has to know (if he doesn't fin out himself) that way he can say goodby to his loved ones...
Well, what if the chances of survival are 20% without lieing and 40% with lieing? What'd you do then?
Of course you lie... But if his cances of surviving decrease after the lie to 0 you'll have to tell him the truth at some point
Well indeed, but then the question would be when.. I mean, sometimes patients can just die all of a sudden, overnight. Even when they have a big chance of survival.
Well... If the chances are too high that the'll die overnight you need to tell the truth... But cancer is a slow death
I would definately say NOT lying. The patient has the right to know if he's going to die - so he can do the stuff he really wants to do before it's too late. If you tell him that he has bigger chances of surviving, you're lying, and that is so wrong. I don't really think that the patient's chance of surviving will increase by 20% if you choose option B rather than A, because if it's cancer and he already has the chances of dying, yeah.. it won't really help that much to hide the truth from him. Also, some people might be streghtned to fight even more if they're told that they're dying soon. I really think it's wrong to be lying to someone, even if it means he has better chances. But you should tell him that you would do everything in your power to help him etc. BUT his chances are slim.
Well, if you're positive and think you're going to survive, you have bigger chances of surviving. It's that easy. So : I think you can justify lieing if it means potentially saving a life.
Hmm, where do you have those information that if you're positive you have a bigger chance of surviving? - Well, I don't think you could justify it even if you're saving a life. The person has a RIGHT to know. You could ask him if he really wanted to know how long time he had, and he could make his own choice, you can't choose a decision like that fo another person .
I can't tell you my sources right now but be sure that those are newspapers with god reputation (not the internet). It is realy proven that telling a patient that he'll get better increases his chance of actually getting betty it is pretty much a Placebo http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placebo There you should also find this information (didn't read through it though)
I read that information in a health magazine, quite some time ago. And there's the proven effect of placebos But if you ask him if he really wants to know, he already knows you'll be lying. So then there's only one choice left for him, and that's to know the truth.
Still, he should be asked first if he wanted to know. Let's say we have a patient that is madly in love with someone, but they broke up because of some stupid thing.. The patient's intentions is to tell her that her loves her still, and that he's not mad at her, and he doesn't want them to fight etc. .Then he gets sick, and the doctors lies to him, telling him that he has better chances, but really.. he is dying soon. So the patient decides to wait till he get's well to tell her, but he dies before getting the chance. Because of the doctors. Not necassary. If you ask ALL patients if they want to know how sick they are, no one will get suspicious =) Please don't double post ~Milanos
still the effekt of a lie would be way better for the patient... And again.. I think you should only do it if you're sure that the patient won't suddenly die... Most of those things like tumors and cancer kill you slowly
Of course everyone will say, yes I know want to know how sick I am. Because if they say, I don't want to know how sick I am then they can't trust the doctors anymore.
Why can't you just ask the patient if he wants to know? It wouldn't be a big problem. And you never /know/ if something kills you suddenly or slow .. Eh, no .. Not everyone will say yes. I know I wouldn't. And I know someone who is dying from cancer that doesn't want to know how sick he is. He stopped kemo and is just living his life know. And what do you mean with if they say they don't want to know they can't trust doctors? If you dont want to know, and the doctors dont tell you, then you can trust them. If you say you want to know, and they lie to you, THEN you cant trust them.
Because if you ask the patient : "Do you want to know how sick you really are?", every answer is wrong. If they answer yes, then they have less chance of surviving. If they say no, they can't trust the doctors anymore and they might not believe it when you tell them that theyll probably survive it.
I'm not saying, that if you ask the patient if they dont want to know, and they dont, that the doctors should give them wrong information. I'm saying then they just shouldn't tell them anything about how long they have to live, and just tell them what treatments they can get. So yeah, you can trust them if you get asked first, if you dont, you cant trust them
Well, if you don't tell them how sick they are, then you can't tell them that they'll probably survive. So they still have an equal big chance of dying, and a smaller chance of surviving compared to the chance they have if you tell them that they'll survive. Ah, but how would you know not to trust them? If you die, then well, they've tried everything in their power to help you. If you don't die you'll think, great, the doctor was right.
I still dont see the proven fact that if you tell someone they have a chance of surviving, they have a bigger chance of actually surviving. I dont think that it's the same for everyone. THEREFORE I think it's totally wrong to lie to someone about their LIFE. I think everyone has the right to know when they'll die. You should at least consult with someone related to the person.