Should Cancer Patients Know the Truth About Their Condition?

Over the years I have worked with a great many cancer patients and their families. Again and again I have met relatives who ask me to conceal the patient's true condition from him. Such a practice does far more harm than good.

When patients do not know their true condition, they are often very uncooperative with treatment, find it hard to trust their doctors, and easily miss the window of therapeutic opportunity.

Yet many relatives, having heard tales of cancer patients being 'scared to death,' are afraid to tell the patient the truth. In fact, patients who are literally frightened to death are quite rare. If relatives break the news gradually and then offer the patient more emotional comfort, the patient will generally come to accept reality slowly, make a correct assessment of his treatment plan, and put his affairs in order—leaving fewer regrets.

In my contacts with cancer patients themselves, I have conducted some inquiries, asking whether they would rather know the truth or have their families keep them in the dark so as to spare their anxiety. Without exception, every cancer patient asked expressed the wish to know the truth about his own condition.

A person has the right to know about his own illness. Only by understanding his state of health, the true nature of his disease and its likely course, can a patient make the choice that best accords with his own wishes. Medical personnel also have a duty to inform the patient of the truth.

Blindly concealing the truth often backfires. Many a time, a doctor's treatment has already been very effective, but the patient does not know it; judging from his bodily reactions, he concludes the treatment is ineffective and refuses to continue. Because they do not know they have cancer, some patients harbor unrealistic expectations of efficacy and cannot understand that many treatments can solve only part of their problems, not all of them. The result is that patients abandon treatment halfway.

Often, even when relatives hide the truth, the patient will suspect that he has cancer. In such a situation, the psychological burden the patient carries while 'not knowing' is actually heavier than it would be if he did know. This is also detrimental to his recovery.

Therefore, family members should tell the patient the truth as honestly as possible, and together with the doctor work to ease the patient's psychological pressure, help him build a positive mindset, and devise a rational treatment plan. This is what benefits the patient most.