Withholding Information from Patients — When Less Is More

Abstract

As clinicians who strongly value truth telling and active patient involvement in medical decision making,1 we have lately been reflecting on the circumstances in which physicians consciously (and sometimes unconsciously) withhold from patients information about their conditions, treatments, and outcomes. The ethical principle of autonomy would suggest that patients should always be fully informed, not only so that they can make the best possible decisions, but also because information helps them to make sense of and cope with illness. However, since information can sometimes increase patients' cognitive and emotional burden and lead to greater confusion rather than clarity, the right . . .