Today marks the start of the Commonwealth Games in Delhi and I'm looking forward to watching as many of the events as I can over the next couple of weeks.
I read an interesting ethical article today with the title "Should you ever lie to your patients?" based on the 2007 article in the BMJ titled 'Can deceiving patients ever be morally acceptable?'
The author argues that in certain instances it may be alright to deceive patients. The example given is one where a patient is about to undergo surgery where their chance of survival is low, less than 50%, and asks the anaesthetist "Is everything going to be alright?". Should the anaesthetist in this situation tell the truth?
One argument is that you should never lie to patients and I agree with this message. Trust is a core element of the doctor - patient relationship and any form of deceit will fundamentally undermine this relationship. Lying to the patient would deny them of their autonomy, their 'right to know'. Should we always tell patients the truth, no matter how grim the outlook may be? Another option would be to take an evasive approach 'We'll do our best'. This however risks arousing suspicion and further upset the patient. Lying in this situation could be argued to be the most helpful due to compassionate reasons.
The obvious answer to this problem is that as with many ethical dilemmas, there is no right or wrong answer. Lying to patients is wrong and should not be done in any circumstances, however there may be situations where it may be in the patient's best interests not to know the whole truth and it may be more compassionate not to disclose information that could harm the patient (non-maleficence).
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