Truthfulness

Question 1

Why does truthfulness matter?

Answer 1

1. Legal reasons
2. Respect for persons
3. Shifts towards patient centred care
4. TRUST

Question 2

What does deceiving patients do?

Answer 2

It degrades them :(
Relational ethics recognizes that the nurse has power the patient doesn’t have

Question 3

How is truthfulness connected to autonomy ?

Answer 3

They share similar importance:
Legal reasons, respect for persons, and shifting towards patient centred care
You cannot have autonomy without truthfulness*

Question 4

What is therapeutic privilege?

Answer 4

With the old physician’s model, not telling the truth was a normal standard in the 1950s***
80% of physicians did NOT tell their patients their cancer diagnosis
EX. Japanese woman with bladder cancer who died, and family sued Dr.

Question 5

What was the excuse to cover up therapeutic privilege?

Answer 5

Physicians said it used beneficence to “protect the patient” as an excuse !

Question 6

Why is trust so important for truthfulness?

Answer 6

We need a broad public trust in the HC system
- If people don’t trust HC, they won’t use it
- This leads to poor outcomes when people do need to seek HC
- There is a lack of trust because of the COVID guidelines that were implemented by important health authority figures*

Question 7

Being truthful involves…

Answer 7

Not only giving accurate information or facts, but it’s about acting with the RIGHT INTENTIONS out of moral duty to be honest, highlighting Kant’s deontology

Question 8

When is it justifiable to withhold the truth?

Answer 8

1. The patient doesn’t want to know the truth (respecting the patient’s autonomy)
2. The institution has a no new information policy (the Dr. must share this information, going back to therapeutic privilege)
3. It is necessary to protect patient confidentiality

Question 9

When is it NOT justifiable to withhold the truth?

Answer 9

1. When a patient’s condition is serious (such as a cancer diagnosis)
2. When a patient’s condition is incurable (the patient deserves to know, they need to prepare properly, gives them dignity)
3. When the patient is cognitively impaired (if it is episodic, just wait to tell them, simplify the information & be patient, but it still needs to be told)