Healthy Skepticism Library item: 10048

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Publication type: Journal Article

Sokol DK.
Can deceiving patients be morally acceptable?
BMJ 2007 May 12; 334:(7601):984
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/334/7601/984

Abstract:

Daniel K Sokol argues that on rare occasions benignly deceiving patients can be morally acceptable, and he has devised a decision checklist to help doctors facing such a dilemma

Nearly all doctors, at some time, will question the wisdom of telling a grim truth to a patient. To help doctors resolve such dilemmas, I have developed a “deception flowchart.” By providing a sequence of questions and a checklist of relevant moral considerations, the flowchart might help the ethically sensitive doctor make a more informed decision about when to over-ride the duty to be honest. It might also be useful to teachers of medical ethics, who can use it to illustrate the complexity of this puzzling area of medicine.

The ongoing deception debate
It is a truth universally acknowledged that ethical doctors will not intentionally deceive their patients. The American Medical Association states: “A physician shall . . . be honest in all professional interactions, and strive to report physicians . . . engaging in fraud or deception, to appropriate entities.“1

Similar injunctions are offered by the World Medical Association and the United . . .

Case study: the unhopeful anaesthetist
Brief flowchart analysis

The deception flowchart

SUMMARY POINTS

Navigating the flowchart

Moral safety checks

Value of the flowchart

Sources and selection criteria