Thought provoking and alot of help in my Bioethics assignment this week. I learned a lot from this. Thanks.

Great video! Pretty informative. Thanks!

Interesting... Telling a patient a pill will help with their pain is still a simplified truth, and not withholding any information they absolutely need. Love the meteorologist analogy. I'm happy with a thunderstorm warning; I don't call them liars just because I don't understand the process behind it. But I think this boils down to common sense, and being able to gauge your patient's level of education and need for further knowledge based on the verbiage they use and the questions they ask. Very thought-provoking. 👍

This is a very interesting topic. Prior to watching the video, I held the opinion that physicians shouldn’t always tell the truth. However, this doesn’t mean they should lie to their patients. Watching this video changed that view because I now believe that it is important to always tell patients the whole truth and nothing but the truth. In general, physicians have an ethical obligation to tell patients the truth. This is known as the principle of veracity, which requires for physicians to be truthful and transparent with their patients. This is important because patients need the whole truth to make medical decisions. If patients don’t have all the accurate information regarding their care, their decision will be misinformed. We, as a society, expect a Tylenol bottle to list how much, who can consume, or side effects of what can happen if consumed. Why shouldn’t we expect the same from our physicians who took an oath to support our health and well-being? Not to compare doctors to a Tylenol container, but physicians are obligated to follow that same ethical truthful telling. Again, this is important because patients have the right to make informed decisions about their care. Without accurate information, patients may not be able to make decisions that are in their best interests. Additionally, telling the truth is necessary to maintain trust between physicians and their patients. Patients come to physicians because they trust and rely on their physicians to provide them with accurate and reliable information, and if physicians are not truthful, this can undermine the patient-physician relationship. I understand the difficulty of being truthful in certain situations such as delivering bad news or discussing sensitive topics. However, even in these situations, physicians have an obligation to be truthful while being sensitive and attentive to the patient’s emotions. Some will also argue the situation of withholding information can be justifiable, such as when a patient is capable of causing harm to oneself or others. In these situations, I may approach it differently, but I would still be truthful to my patient.

This is medical schools selecting people with 99% averages versus selecting people who have an 85% and can communicate effectively.