Truth Telling vs Maintaining Hope
Watch this video from Georgetown Bioethics on Truth Telling vs Hope (often times false hope)
https://bioethicsarchive.georgetown.edu/phlx101-02/video/ECKfrZnCfvA.html
Discusses a hypothetical case of a rehab doctor who intentionally delays the delivery of bad news (e.g. likely permanence of residual upper extremity weakness following a stroke) in favor of maintaining the patient’s hope for recovery
When is it okay to not tell the entire truth?
Watch this video from study.com entitled “Importance of Truth Telling, Confidentiality, and Informed Consent in Medicine (requires creating a login to watch the entire video; takes a few extra seconds but this is one of the best videos out there covering the topic; otherwise, substitute with Andrew Ericson video below)
Discusses the two scenarios where it might be okay to not tell the entire truth: 1) where the harm of disclosure is greater than the benefit, or 2) where a patient indicates they don’t want to know the entire truth.
The Platinum Rule in delivering culturally sensitive care
Watch this video from The Canadian Medical Protective Association (CMPA) entitled “Culture and healthcare: When medicine and culture intersect”
Talks about the importance of not so much the Golden Rule but the Platinum Rule in treating our patients, of being careful to not project our own values on to our patients, and of not presuming to know our patients’ values without asking them explicitly
Additional resources:
Watch this video from Andrew Ericson on Truth-Telling and Confidentiality:
Reviews two scenarios in which providers felt Beneficence and Utility outweighed Truth-Telling, choosing to withhold information in favor of offering hope and improving psychological wellbeing albeit predicated on a falsehood; last minute talks about cases where a breach in confidentiality might be justified
Watch this video from University of Texas’s business school about framing bias:
Illustrates how the way we frame things can be inherently biased (usually to promote the view we want)
References:
Beauchamp, T. Truth telling video. Retrieved from https://bioethicsarchive.georgetown.edu/phlx101-02/video/ECKfrZnCfvA.html
Muscato, C. Importance of Truth Telling, Confidentiality & Informed Consent in Medicine. Retrieved from https://study.com/academy/lesson/importance-of-truth-telling-confidentiality-informed-consent-in-medicine.html
The Canadian Medical Protective Association. (2014, September 5). Culture and healthcare: When medicine and culture intersect. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0TquroTHxo
Erickson, A. (2015, July 8). Video 8 - Truth-Telling and Confidentiality. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUya-4Xc02g
McCombs School of Business. (2019, February 19). Concepts Unwrapped - Framing. Retrieved from https://ethicsunwrapped.utexas.edu/video/framing also https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fPQqqEoU3Y