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Show county, only 30 per cent of all doctors questioned said they always told cancer patients the truth. Of course, if a patient is found to have active tuberculosis, the story is very different. He must be told; reassuringly but firmly, because contagious disease is a potential menace to the rest of the community. Heart patients, too," are generally informed, for a modified schedule is well worth the added years of fruitful living. But what of the patient for whom life holds a big question mark? Does he really want to know? Take the man with a serious stomach disorder who had undergone surgery. When he came back to his doctor's office for a checkup he said, "I don't have cancer, do I, doctor?" Did that man want to know? Many doctors would say he didn't that his question was not a search for truth but a plea for reassurance. There's no all-inclus- head of the household with financial esponsi-bifitie- s; the doctor with dependent patients, the vital public official these people must have time to rearrange their lives. This need not be done with futility, but rather with the' practical efficiency of; the alert businessman who alters his inventory from, year to year. Before a doctor tells you, or a member of your family, he must weigh a number of factors: your intelligence - and responsibilities; - your- - emotions and past experience. He must ask himself, "Can this man take the verdict in stride, or will it ruin whether it be five months or . the rest of his life ... , men that the doctor questions whether he should burden his patient. For instance, would John X, a young man with cancer of the lungs, have benefited from the truth? His doctor thought not. "Seven years later he's working and happy. Would he be if the threat of cancer had hung over his head all those years?" best medical No two human beings are clipped from the same cloth; therefore no single answer holds for everyone. Doctors do know, however, that certain people are better able to accept the truth and summon the courage to do what is necessary to regain health. Most often these are the realists the people who ask the price of surgery, the probable length of convalescence, alternatives they must choose between. On the other hand, doctors have watched the truth drive some people to despair, depression, or suicide. These are patients who refuse the verdict (even if true) and chase wildly from doctor to doctor until finally someone mistakenly offers the diagnosis they want to hear. There are others who react with anger or anxiety or such debilitating fear that they give up all hope. Most doctors agree there are times when truth is necessary, but truth tempered with hope. The , twenty years?" . Sometimes an early operation almost certainly will guarantee longer life. Or a diagnosis may be so doubtful and this can happen even with the answer ive Should it be truth or concealment? 1 On the other hand, a study done in Chicago by Dr. Richard JE. Renneker and Dr. Max Cutler pointed up some new thoughts on what the patient ' realljr wants. Forty women with .breast cancer were questioned. The two doctors stated that their findings bore only on this type of cancer. Thanks to radio and TV and printed material, all forty of these women associated the lump they discovered with the disease. Coijld you fool these women, then? Probably-no- t, and the doctors found that concealment, silence, and partial information were often more disturbing than the truth. Other medical men had it talked to them about "unhealthy tissue " or "lumps." But medical double. talk, instead of reassuring these women, had only increased their of anxiety. They interpreted silence on the part the doctor as certain confirmation of the doom they already expected. Most of them detested the secrecy surrounding them. They usually sensed that a husband or relative had been told the truth, and they resented the game of "Whew, thank goodness, it's nothing." not only lose Patients placed in such a position faith in the doctor but often in the family, too. Instead of summoning energy to fight a real battle they waste energy playing a game. Sometimes just the opposite is true, and the patient who is told the unhappy .truth keeps it from his family and friends.. This, again, is a decision that depends on individual personalities and circumstances! Most times, sharing this heavy knowledge with someone close not only eases the burden for the patient, but also gives His loved . pnes the chance to help him during this trying time. The patient who confides in his family enjoys a more comfortable mental state and the additional courage engendered by his friends two factors, that can be wnducive to recovery. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes once remarked, "Life is not logic." feelings have little bearing on logic either, and since feelings can be the ally of recovery or the enemy of hope, you, the patient, must weigh carefully your feelings about your doctor. If you have faith in him, if he knows you, undoubtedly he can best judge how much truth you and your family want and can manage. He will do what he thinks best. As Horace Mann said, and he might have been . counselling both patient and doctor, "You need not tell all the truth, unless to those who have a right to know it; but let all you tell be truth." u ft 7) 't 7 x.1 7 77 M-rr:--;-- z 'lM. 77 . Some find truth unbearable. They I ? v;:: become4preed and morbid. Patients who share a knowledge of the future with MAY ( '; : i loved ones usually enjoy ment.l sirenity. H, 19S4 FAMILY WEEKLY MAGAZINE |