维持患者的希望,同时又满足披露义务,这是医生所面临的最困难任务。这需要对人类心理有深刻的理解;一个词语,一个动作,甚至一个目光都能提振或打击患者的神经。医生对患者隐瞒信息,此举可以接受吗?一些人认为这不但可以接受,而且应该这样。持这一观点的人认为,希望是康复的关键,不能让令人绝望的诊断扼杀病人对康复的希望。在1803年的著作《医学伦理学》(Medical Ethics)中,英国医生托马斯·帕茨瓦尔(Thomas Percival)将医生的 Maintaining the patient’s hope while meeting the disclosure obligations is one of the most difficult tasks doctors face. This requires a deep understanding of human psychology; a word, an action, or even a gaze boosts or hits the patient’s nerves. Is it acceptable for doctors to hide information from patients? Some people think this is not only acceptable, but it should be. Those who hold this view believe that hope is the key to rehabilitation and that the desperate diagnosis can not stifle the patient’s hope of healing. In the 1803 book Medical Ethics, the British doctor Thomas Percival put the doctor’s