Journal ArticleDOI
Truth Telling: A Cultural or Individual Choice?
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For the majority of cancer patients the issue of open communication should be addressed well before the terminal stage, and evidence does not support fears that being given a choice is detrimental to patients.Abstract:
To the Editor. —Dr Surbone 1 discusses cross-cultural differences in oncologists' "truth telling" when communicating with patients. While the patients described in her article were terminally ill, for the majority of cancer patients the issue of open communication should be addressed well before the terminal stage. In earlier stages full disclosure allows not only for discussion of diagnosis and prognosis but, often, for patient involvement in important decision making. For example, as Surbone points out, patients with early-stage breast cancer are obvious candidates for involvement in decision making since breast-conserving and radical surgeries appear to have equivalent outcomes. Indeed, when given a choice between surgeries, women are willing and able to decide and are almost always satisfied with the outcomes of their choice. 2 Evidence does not support fears that being given a choice is detrimental to patients. 3 In countries such as Italy, where these fears are strong, theread more
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Journal ArticleDOI
Should doctors inform terminally ill patients? The opinions of nationals and doctors in the United Arab Emirates.
Ann Harrison,Ahmed M H Al-Saadi,Ali S O Al-Kaabi,Mohammed R S Al-Kaabi,Saif S M Al-Bedwawi,Saif O M Al-Kaabi,Salem B S Al-Neaimi +6 more
TL;DR: People's in principle choices did not provide a useful guide to how they said they would personally wish to be treated, and doctors' responses are of concern because of the lack of reference to ethical principles or dilemmas, the disregard of patients' wishes and dependency on survival odds.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
Psychological outcomes of different treatment policies in women with early breast cancer outside a clinical trial.
TL;DR: There is still no evidence that women with early breast cancer who undergo breast conservation surgery have less psychiatric morbidity after treatment than those who undergo mastectomy, and patients treated by surgeons who offered a choice showing less depression than those treated by other surgeons.
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Truth telling to the patient.
TL;DR: The Virtual Mentor journal as discussed by the authors is a monthly bioethics journal published by the American Medical Association (AMAJIA), which allows physicians to determine how much information to share with patients about their medical prognosis.
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Original article: Disclosure of breast cancer diagnosis: Patient and physician reports
TL;DR: Comparison of patient and physician reports should not be used to validate either source of information, but the degree of patient-physician disagreement found in this research may alert physicians to potential difficulties that can arise in communicating with cancer patients.
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Mastectomy or conservation: the patient's choice.
TL;DR: Patients with breast cancer are capable of choosing treatment and should play a part in deciding which treatment to have, and they do not automatically choose to retain the breast.
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What doctors tell patients with breast cancer about diagnosis and treatment: Findings from a study in general hospitals
TL;DR: Setting-dependent features more than individual provider attitudes seemed to account for at least part of the quality of information sharing behaviour as both hospital size and degree of hospital organization were - simultaneously - significant predictors of quality of communication, independently from patients' case-mix.