Lying and Withholding Medical Information are Forms of Deception

Philosophy - Biomedical Ethics: Lying and Withholding Medical Information are Forms of Deception Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation Philosophy - Biomedical Ethics: Lying and Withholding Medical Information are Forms of Deception Introduction In today’s clinical practice, physicians who lie to their patients are harshly condemned while those that engage in non-deceptive strategies such as information withholding often face less criticism (Cox & Fritz, 2016). While some of these non-disclosure strategies have in recent times been challenged, such as withholding important information regarding medical errors and inadequately providing information to patients about the risks of certain procedures, there are areas of clinical practice where information non-disclosure is largely acceptable. It is often agreed that building trust between a physician and their patients is an essential element to strengthen their relationship and improve patient outcomes. In this regard, there some forms of behaviours such as lying, which physicians should never engage in because they directly undermine trust. At the same time, confidentiality is equally important to foster the relationship between physicians and their patients, but this has to be within given limits such as in cases where patients are likely to unknowingly infect others with HIV/AIDS (Benn, 2001). Should withholding be considered as morally equivalent to lies, if lying is wrong? In this paper, I argue that deception is morally wrong and it is therefore never acceptable to lie or withhold information from patients. I will first show that there is no difference between the act of lying and withholding the truth as the two are equally wrong. Secondly, I will argue that “paternalism” largely contradicts the principles of “patient autonomy” and show how the concept of “therapeutic privilege” challenges the principles of “non-maleficence” and “beneficence”. Lastly, I will dismantle Mack Lipkin’s argument and argue against his premises as I believe it is the physician’s role to always disclose important patient information truly and fully. Patients’ expectations and the role of the doctor in the patient-physician relationship are changing. Patient autonomy is fundamental, yet challenging, principle of professional medical ethics. The idea that individual patients should have a freedom to make choices about their lives, including medical matters, has become increasingly prominent in the current health care profession. However, this has not always been the case in the past, since physicians were the ones to make the decisions for their patients if they were perceived to not have the capacity to behold the truth. This action is justified by the theory of paternalism, which places physicians in positions of authority, and allowed them to make choices for their patients as a promotion of their welfare (Fisher et al, 2018, p.9). For the purpose of this paper, we will consider paternalism in the context of telling the truth and withholding information, which then raises the question: If lying and withholding is a form of deception, then is it ever permissible to deceive patients for “their own good”? Therapeutic privilege allows physicians to withhold informa...