ABSTRACT
Since Kübler-Ross and others have been reporting on dying patients, physicians have been under increasing criticism for allegedly failing to be open and honest with terminal patients under their care [1]. For example, Schulz arid Aderman in a review of the literature concluded that the majority of physicians adhere to a policy of not sharing their diagnosis with the dying patient [2]. To support this conclusion they cite four studies that were conducted some years ago. Fitts and Ravdin found that two-thirds of the Philadelphia physicians they surveyed infrequently or never disclosed the diagnosis of terminal cancer [3]. Rennick in nationwide survey found that 22 per cent of physicians never told patients of incurable cancer and 62 per cent sometimes informed the patient [4]. Oken found that 90 per cent of the physicians surveyed at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago indicated that they did not tell terminal patients their diagnoses [5]. Finally, Caldwell and Mishara found that sixty of seventy-three physicians in a private Detroit hospital refused to be interviewed on their attitudes toward dying patients [6]. Of the thirteen actually interviewed only two admitted telling their patients of a terminal diagnosis. However, the low level of cooperation seems to make this study inadequate for drawing any conclusions.
