The Ethics of Truth-Telling in Health-Care Settings
Zolkefli, Y. (2018). The Ethics of Truth-Telling in Health-Care Settings. Malaysian Journal of Medical Sciences, 25(3), 135-139. Doi: 10.21315/mjms2018.25.3.14
There are various ethical dilemmas in health care, most of which are faced by different professions serving the health care system. Nurses have four major ethical dilemmas; among them, the most common is telling the truth while carrying out their duties. Under no circumstances can a lie be justified, whether it is intended to save humanity or to avoid something bad from happening. It is ethically recommended that in any situation, health care practitioners should always tell the truth regardless of the significance of the outcomes or repercussions. Therefore, according to the article by Zolkefli, telling the truth is an ethic that should be maintained despite the challenges it elucidates. The decision to truthfully pass patient information is an ethical dilemma faced by various nurses in health care settings.
According to the article information (Zolkefli, 2018), many people can be hurt by hearing the truth. However, although honesty is a better policy, health care professionals have undergone tempting occasions to lie on various occasions. They are, however, required ‘to always tell the truth to their patients’ as it is “the right thing to do.” Arguably, when examining the daily services of health care professionals, sometimes the truth is not applicable, thus raising an essential question of whether always telling the truth stands as a moral obligation that should not be definable or different degrees of dishonesty can be justifiable considering adverse outcomes of telling the truth.
It is a value in health care to remain truthful as it is associated with being respectful to the patients as it supports the idea that they are also capable of making their decisions depending on the told truth. Additionally, to direct appropriate care to a patient, they need truthful information that will enable them to make appropriate decisions benefiting their health and recovery process (Zolkefli, 2018). Therefore, the purported treatment and other health interventions must be made known truthfully to the patient without breach of information, which will help them to make essential decisions regarding their health benefits.
It is known that sometimes telling the truth is more challenging reasons being, some patients prefer not to know the truth about their underlying health conditions, and instead, the information is told to the family members. On the other hand, some patients become unhappy when told the truth about their state of health, and instead feel okay to let the information stay with the health care professionals. The truth sometimes brings moments of depression, anxiety, and also cases of suicide contemplation, making it hard for health care professionals to practice the policy of honesty in their service.
It is, however, necessary for health care professionals to take up the dilemma of telling the truth as a significant aspect as it is critically directed to the decision making of both the patient and them towards deciding better overall health for the patient. This article is, therefore, critical in helping nurse’s skill up and nature their honesty ability when dealing with patients.
Finally, as much as the truth hurts, it hurts more to realize that the health information given to a person is bare lies. It is vital that whatever the situation a patient is, the health practitioner should firmly tell the truth, so that decision making for the patient is also involved and respected. The article finally proves to health care practitioners that lies cannot be justifiable in their line of service toward patients. Instead of telling the truth is a professional requirement that doesn’t invite risking and losing their professionalism.
Reference.
Zolkefli, Y. (2018). The Ethics of Truth-Telling in Health-Care Settings. Malaysian Journal of Medical Sciences, 25(3), 135-139. Doi: 10.21315/mjms2018.25.3.14. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6422557/