Patients have a right to an honest and full explanation of their situation
☛ patients should be told as much or as little as they wantto know
- - patients have a right to decline information if they so wish. (There often comes a time in palliative care when a patient will say that they trust their professional carers and do not want more information or having to make difficult decisions).
☛ without information about the disease and prognosis, patients
- - cannot participate in their own treatment planning
- - cannot give informed consent to treatment
- - cannot make suitable plans for themselves and their families
Communication should be with the patient, unless
☛ the patient is not competent
☛ they have delegated the responsibility to a family member, something that should be confirmed or documented as a Power of Attorney.
☛ religious or cultural custom requires that the male head of the family is told
Communication about sensitive matters should be
☛ carried out in an understanding, sensitive and unhurried manner
☛ given in a way that can be understood
☛ performed honestly
see Communication with Patients
Telling patients nothing or lying to them is very likely to cause harm
☛ there is evidence from many different countries and cultures that terminally ill patients fear the unknown more than they fear the known and will suffer less, both physically and psychologically, when given the information they want
☛ even in countries where patients are traditionally not told the diagnosis and are thought not to know it, many patients have a good idea of the diagnosis and its prognosis even if they have not been explicitly informed about it
☛ will lead to loss of trust when the patient is informed of, or deduces the true situation
Source:
The IAHPC Manual of Palliative Care 3rd Edition
https://web.archive.org/web/20210122105526/https://hospicecare.com/uploads/2013/9/The%20IAHPC%20Manual%20of%20Palliative%20Care%203e.pdf
