Announcing the Diagnosis
Friends and especially near relatives sometimes come to a physician when there is suspicion that a young person is suffering from tuberculosis and ask that, if there is a ground for a positive diagnosis, it shall not be communicated to the patient. They usually urge that they fear the discouragement will kill the patient. The young are not so easily killed and the reaction on being told the truth and the facing of it bravely is such a magnificent help in therapeutics that the physician should always refuse for the patient’s sake alone, quite apart from any ethical obligations in the matter, to enter into any such arrangement. The assurance may be given that the patient’s condition will be so stated that, far from the patient being discouraged after due consideration, he or she will look forward with confidence to overcoming the affection.