The Ethical Dilemma of Truth-Telling in Healthcare in China

Medical Ethics

“…The fundamental principle of medical ethics is autonomy [42] Autonomy is the freedom of patients and clients to make their decisions on their conditions without the interference, pressurization and duress. It means giving adequate information to the patient respectfully and disclosure of information about a patient after obtaining informed consent to do so [4,43,44]. Trust is always key in every doctor patient relationship as the patient rusts the doctor to the best for him or her therefore the patient is entitled to autonomy.…”

“…The other medical ethical principles of truth telling, and confidentiality including informed consent are all based on autonomy [4]. Autonomy allows the patient to choose from every available treatment options depending on their goals and values [41,44,46]. Although sometimes doctors are able to convince their patients to accept what they believe is the best for the patient [41].…”

“…The ethical principle of non-maleficence is related to beneficence but they are different [44]. The principle of non-maleficence states that no harm should be done to the patient or other people in the community [4,9,10,17,48].…”

“…The principle of non-maleficence states that no harm should be done to the patient or other people in the community [4,9,10,17,48]. Implementing the principle of non-maleficence means that any treatment option that will be harmful to the patient should not be offered to the patient [44] as the patient will also exhibit autonomy. Hence the patient's medical condition may worsen.…”

No Man (or Woman) Is an Island?

“…It has always been clear that there are large international differences in cultural and political interpretations of autonomy. Zhang and Min (2020) write about the challenges of truth-telling in China. Legislation does require truth-telling but also includes a responsibility for adverse consequences.…”