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    Critical Discussion Collins

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    iamayesha725
    The document discusses arguments for and against doctors telling patients the full truth about their medical conditions and treatments. While Collins argues doctors should develop lying skills and withhold information to avoid upsetting patients, the author believes this undermines patient autonomy and trust in doctors. Falsifying information could be more psychologically and physically harmful to patients than full honesty with empathy and support. A lack of honesty from doctors could also damage their reputation in the field of medicine over time.

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    Critical Discussion Collins

    Uploaded by

    iamayesha725
    498 views2 pages
    The document discusses arguments for and against doctors telling patients the full truth about their medical conditions and treatments. While Collins argues doctors should develop lying skills and withhold information to avoid upsetting patients, the author believes this undermines patient autonomy and trust in doctors. Falsifying information could be more psychologically and physically harmful to patients than full honesty with empathy and support. A lack of honesty from doctors could also damage their reputation in the field of medicine over time.

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    The document discusses arguments for and against doctors telling patients the full truth about their medical conditions and treatments. While Collins argues doctors should develop lying skills and withhold information to avoid upsetting patients, the author believes this undermines patient autonomy and trust in doctors. Falsifying information could be more psychologically and physically harmful to patients than full honesty with empathy and support. A lack of honesty from doctors could also damage their reputation in the field of medicine over time.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    498 views2 pages

    Critical Discussion Collins

    Uploaded by

    iamayesha725
    The document discusses arguments for and against doctors telling patients the full truth about their medical conditions and treatments. While Collins argues doctors should develop lying skills and withhold information to avoid upsetting patients, the author believes this undermines patient autonomy and trust in doctors. Falsifying information could be more psychologically and physically harmful to patients than full honesty with empathy and support. A lack of honesty from doctors could also damage their reputation in the field of medicine over time.

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    Tabassum1

    Ayesha Tabassum

    Professor Ryan Fanselow

    PHI 1120

    9th November 2020

    Critical Discussion: Should Doctors Tell the Truth?

    In the article "Should Doctors Tell the Truth," Collins argues why doctors should develop

    different lying skills and not fully disclose the nature of the illnesses to the patients. Although

    Collins deduces that most patients do not want to know or are not equipped to handle the

    truth, what he fails to recognize is that falsifying information can be more detrimental to the

    patient's mental and physical health. On top of affecting the patient, misleading a patient may

    directly impact a physician's reputation in medicine.

    Collins mentions about a patient who was about to start his new business faced a

    complicated orthopedic surgery and described how the doctor only disclosed what the surgery

    accomplished but left out the part that they failed to accomplish. Doctors assumed; the truth

    will morally break down the patient’s hopes to move forward with the dream that he has been

    building over decades. What Collins fails to understand is, holding back the vital information

    from the patient, in a way, is sabotaging the patient's right to autonomy. Patients who are not

    disclosed about the entire surgical procedures can experience a loss of trust from the doctors,

    which can be crucial for their healing. Honesty is an essential key for patients to be at ease

    about what went on with their bodies. The patient deserves to know nothing but the truth
    Tabassum2

    because of their susceptibility that requires truthful answers. However, doctors can do as much

    distress to the patient in other perspectives by telling the truth as they can by withholding it

    from the patient. Telling the truth about a critical medical condition requires empathy,

    articulation, subtlety, and a commitment to help the patient out after the truth has been

    revealed. If the truth is told with compassion and keeping in mind the patient's sensitivity to the

    truth, a patient is likely to take the truth in more positive ways than instead believing the lies.

    As Collins mentions in his article, " Every physician should cultivate lying as a fine art"

    (Collins page 194). In this statement, Collins fails to understand that a lack of honesty can have

    unfavorable consequences to the physician's reputation in the field of practicing medicine. If,

    for example, the patient consults a different physician, it will be apparent that the facts did not

    line up, so that means the doctor's diagnosis was not reliable. Hence, the loss of reputation for

    honesty in medical practice means the end of medicine as a profession.

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