Right to know or Request to Withhold: Which should be Honored?

Abstract

A 45 y old male patient was admitted to ICU with CA stomach which metastasized to other body organs. He did not know about the disease and asked Health Care Provider (HCP) many times about his condition, but HCP did not tell him. Because, his family wanted to keep it confidential. After one month, the patient dies due to poor prognosis. If HCP have told him before his death, he might have been able to accomplish his important tasks. In this case, the reason behind the family’s decision of keeping the diagnosis confidential to patient could be in a way that family thought that patient will be unable to cope after disclosure of actual diagnosis.