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Handbook of Pain and Palliative Care pp 63–69Cite as

Truth Telling and Palliative Care

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Abstract

Palliative medicine clinicians provide expert and compassionate care for patients living with a life-limiting illness and their caregivers. Caring and skilled clinicians recognize the importance of crafting therapeutic relationships that are based on trust and mutual respect. These relationships are a source of strength and solace for patients seeking to preserve control, integrity, and dignity in the final phases of life. Disclosing bad news and telling the truth in a compassionate yet honest manner is a continuing challenge for physicians. Transparency has become the norm in American medicine, based on the ethical principle that clinicians have a duty to inform in order to preserve patient autonomy. Moreover, the medical community favors engaging patients in sharing decisions about their care, and patients must understand their diagnosis and prognosis to make such decisions. In this chapter, we address truth telling as a complex process that involves dosing information and engaging patients and families in managing and coping with a serious and life-altering illness.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cancer Survivorship Program, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, USA

    Lidia Schapira MD FASCO

  2. Stanford School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA, USA

    Lidia Schapira MD FASCO

  3. Advanced Medicine Center, Palo Alto, CA, USA

    Lidia Schapira MD FASCO

  4. Division of Hematological Malignancies, Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA

    David Steensma MD FACP

  5. Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    David Steensma MD FACP

Authors
  1. Lidia Schapira MD FASCO
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  2. David Steensma MD FACP
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Correspondence to Lidia Schapira MD FASCO .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Bethesda, MD, USA

    Rhonda J. Moore

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Schapira, L., Steensma, D. (2018). Truth Telling and Palliative Care. In: Moore, R. (eds) Handbook of Pain and Palliative Care. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95369-4_4

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