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Show WOMAN sat facing her doctor. She calm, but her fingers twisted incesthe doctor santly at the strap on her purse. As talked she watched him intently. "Mrs. Jones, I must tell you the truth. The lesion in your leg is cancerous. I'm telling you this because I feel it only fair that you make your own decision about the future." "What are; the alternatives?" the woman asked nervously. "We can do radical surgery, amputating the leg -, up to the hip, but even then there's no sure. guarantee. Or we can make .the most of the present and let nature take its course." How long will I have without surgery?" tell you " the doctor replied. "I wish a year . . . maybe more. "Maybe six months That's one of the things we just don't know." A few days later Mrs. Jones telephoned the doctor. "I've decided to choose two legs and less time. It's a hard decision, but I'd rather continue as normally as I can. And doctor, I want to thank you for taking me into your confidence. I'm glad you told me the truth." Maybe you wouldn't have made the same decision as Mrs. Jones; but could you face the full truth as she did? Every day doctors and their patients grapple with these grim facts of crippling disease and sometimes death. How many of these "patients really want the truth? :L poll taken at the University of Minnesota hospital not long ago showed that 82 out of 100 routine patients wanted the truth; 89 out of 100 patients suffering from cancer preferred to be told the hard facts. Doctors, on the other hand, are not so sure that this is right or even desirable. They feel that much depends on the person, his family, the nature of the disease. In a' study made in Philadelphia THE tie Ulllll felfl 5 -- ... Your Doctor? . : j ' ,i :.V' ,. ' L ... r....'. L 3 v - ... . :4 :. ft " W' i ' '' 5 ' ' ' .. M , . .' '",.!. - ...... f y-- J?:;' .1 ; - . - C , f " - rfJi & ... . I ?"' FAMILY WSBCLY MAGAZINE The doctor facts a crucial decision. Will ihe truth be best for this particular- - patient 7 MAY U. 154 ,. |