評論
打印
Is it ever proper for a medical doctor to lie to his patient? Should he tell a patient he is dying? These questions seem simple enough, but it is not so simple to give a satisfactory answer to them.
醫生可以對病人撒謊嗎？醫生應該告訴病人他已經病入膏肓了嗎？這些問題看起來很簡單，但是要給出令人滿意的回答卻并不那么簡單。
TO Lie or Not Lie-The Doctor's Dilemma
撒謊還是不撒謊-醫生的難題
Sissela Bok
西塞拉·博克
Should doctors ever lie to benefit their patients - to speed recovery or to conceal the approach of death? In medicine as in law, government, and other lines of work, the requirements ofhonesty often seem dwarfed by greater needs: the need to shelter from brutal news or to upholda promise of secrecy; to expose corruption or to promote the public interest.
為了對病人有好處-為了加快病人康復或不讓病人知道死亡的來臨-醫生到底該不該撒謊？醫療行業與法律、政府及其他行業一樣，往往顯得對誠實與否的問題不那么看重，要緊的倒是另外的一些事情，譬如，應設法避免可怕的消息造成的打擊，或是應考慮恪守保密的諾言，或是需要揭露腐敗行為或促進公眾利益等。
What should doctors say, for example, to a 46-year-old man coming in for a routine physical checkup just before going on vacation with his family who, though he feels in perfect health, is found to have a form of cancer that will cause him to die within six months? Is it bestto tell him the truth? If he asks, should the doctors deny that he is ill, or minimize the gravity of the illness? Should they at least conceal the truth until after the family vacation?
舉例說吧。一個46歲的男子，在與家人外出度假之前進行常規體格檢查，雖然他自我感覺良好，但醫生發現他患了某種癌癥，6個月內就會死去。這時，醫生該怎么對他講呢？是不是最好對他講實話？要是他問起檢查結果，醫生該不該否認他得了病？該不該將病情的嚴重性縮小到最低限度？該不該將真情至少隱瞞到他全家度假之后？
