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Document Details : Title: The Ethics of the Physician-Patient Relationship Author(s): LIE, Reidar Journal: Ethical Perspectives Volume: 4 Issue: 4 Date: December 1997 Pages: 263-270 DOI: 10.2143/EP.4.4.562990 Abstract : It is a remarkable fact about the development of medical ethics from the 1960s until today that there has been a dramatic shift from a position where it was taken for granted that the physician knows best, to a position where much greater emphasis is put on the patient’s treatment preferences. This shift is evident with regard to physician attitudes towards disclosing a cancer diagnosis. For example, in 1961, a survey of cancer physicians showed that almost 90% of the physicians reported that their usual policy was not to tell their patients that they had cancer (Oken 1961). The survey was repeated in 1979, and it showed a complete reversal in attitudes over this 20-year period. 90% reported that their usual policy was to tell their patients that they had cancer (Novack et al. 1979). |
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