ABSTRACT
It is curious that major ethical codes such as the Hippocratic Oath and the Declaration of Geneva say nothing about an ‘obligation to truthfulness’, and some books on medical ethics do not even have these words in their index. Is it just assumed? As we have already mentioned, 40 years ago it was quite common for a doctor to lie to a patient about a diagnosis of cancer, or, at least, to use medical phrases that concealed the truth (e.g. ‘It’s not cancer; it’s a type of tumour’). This was done with the best of intentions, to try to spare the patient’s distress, but the same doctors would have been furious if the same patient had lied to them. Of course malignant tumours vary widely in their rate of growth and their prognosis, so, it was argued, the word ‘cancer’ could give quite the wrong impression if used for a very slow growing tumour because the word to many people immediately implies a painful and lingering death.
