Abstract

Lying to patient from benevolent motives Abstract Truth-telling to patients is a key issue in Medical ethics. Today, most of physicians hold that truth-telling to patients is necessary, and that lying to patients or withholding information from them is not allowed. But it seems that truth-telling is not an absolute and unconditional duty, and it may not be appropriate under some circumstances. Although, truth-telling is a primeval principle in ethics, but it is allowed to withhold truth or lying in some circumstances. From the points of view of reason and tradition, lying under these circumstances is allowed: unwillingly, emergency (including: to defect life, property and honor harm from own and other) and to be under two obligation. In my opinion, truth-telling is necessary when continuing the patient's cure and his satisfaction depend on it, and also when the truth which is being told to him, is the incurability of his disease. But when telling the truth is not necessary for continuing the cure and when the truth which is said to patient is something other than incurability of his disease (such as hardness of the disease, the death of his fellow travelers in an accident and other bad news out of hospital, premonition of his living time, questionable diagnose etc.), truth-telling is not permitted, if it has a harm to the patient. In these circumstances, withholding truth or lying, for defecting harm, is allowed. Keywords: medical ethics, truth-telling, lying, patients, physicians