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Confidentiality - 🧠ANSWER ✔✔Obligation to keep patient health
information secret (unless they consent to disclosure)
Give the 2 main arguments for truth telling - 🧠ANSWER ✔✔1.) Violating
confidentiality is morally okay if there is no other way to avoid harm to
others
2.) Some argue for absolute confidentiality but others say there are
exceptions like preventing serious harm (in case of disclosing infectious
disease)
, What are the criticisms of full disclosure? - 🧠ANSWER ✔✔Psychological
harm
Patient wellbeing (welfare) over truth-telling (veracity)
Patients might not want the truth
Medical complexity and patient understanding
Psychological harm - 🧠ANSWER ✔✔Full disclosure can cause significant
psychological distress which can worsen their condition/will to live
Patient wellbeing (welfare) over truth-telling (veracity) - 🧠ANSWER ✔✔Do
no harm is prioritized over obligation to tell the truth, withholding
information might be necessary to prevent distress
Patients might not want the truth - 🧠ANSWER ✔✔Sometimes patients can
say they want to know the truth, but they really don't (some patients prefer
to remain optimistic instead of facing the truth)
Medical complexity and patient understanding - 🧠ANSWER ✔✔The
complexity of medical information can make it difficult for patients to fully
understand their condition, so some doctors question if it's actually
important to give the whole truth