What do cancer patients want from their Doctors? A study presented at the American Society for Radiation Oncology’s annual meeting stated among other things patients want honesty about their chance for cure.
I wonder how the question was posed to the 500 patients in their interview.
Was it, ‘True or False, Do you want your radiation oncologist to lie to you about the chance that your cancer is cured?’
Yikes! Maybe I am wrong, but do some people want the lie?
In a recent entry in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Danish scientists surveyed 3,000 women who had breast cancer surgery. About half of the women said they had pain for up to 2 years after surgery, but only 1 in 5 told their doctors about their pain.
I wonder how the question was posed to the patients. Was it ‘True or False, No pain, Right?’
Yikes again!
Doctors know patients lie, and patients know when they are lying to their doctors. The question is; Does everyone know they are lying to each other when it comes to pain and cancer prognosis? What would be the goal to lie?
Cancer is such a complex disease, that honesty is truly the best policy, but then again lying can be easier than the truth. It wasn’t that long ago that doctors held a bad or terminal diagnosis from a woman patient and told her husband or some other male at first. Not that long ago women kept their diagnosis to themselves so not to upset the family. How interesting that deceit has a long and growing history when it comes to the patient-doctor relationship.