Truth Telling in a South African Tertiary Hospital (Report‪)‬

The purpose of truth telling is not only to disclose information necessary for patients to make informed choices concerning their treatment options. It includes providing information concerning their diagnosis. (1) This idea is very different from the paternalistic mode of doctor-patient interactions, such Thomas Percival writing in 1803: 'to a patient, who makes inquiries which, if faithfully answered, might prove fatal to him, it would be a gross and unfeeling wrong to tell the truth'. (2) The movement from a strongly paternalistic model to one that is (at most) weakly paternalistic has led to better communication between patient and doctor in the Western world. Attitudes of patients towards truth telling generally gained worldwide momentum as a result of open debate in the 1990s.3 Yet questions remain, and there is variation in the application of truth telling globally, which appears to have a cultural influence. (4,5)