Health care providers are expected to give hope of longer life and expected healing to patients rather than cause panic, especially when giving a critical diagnosis. Regarding the statement, ‘when Richard Arrives, the doctor says that there has been no change in his condition, and that there is no remedy for his kind of cancer.’ The statement was harsh and inhumane because it was not delivered ethically. The specialist should have been more empathetic to Richard and consider the effect of his choice of words on the patient’s life. Directly telling a patient that nothing could be done to reverse their condition might be harsh and may cause the patient to develop a panic attack. Besides, the statement could make the patient lose hope for his life and affect his health condition more.
Therefore, specialists should develop a friendly relationship with patients to understand them and thus learn the best way to disclose diagnosis without hurting their feelings. Also, I think the doctor should have used the positive language of hope for the person living with cancer. For example, he can assure him that the condition can be maintained through therapy and that he could still survive with the disease. All all the details should not be disclosed at once but occasionally to prepare the victim. In this case, the doctor would have given Richard a clue on the possibility of the illness and encouraged him to continue therapy. I believe the patient would not have felt as hopeless through proper advice as he probably thought after the harsh disclosure. Health care providers are expected to give hope of longer life and expected healing to patients rather than cause panic, especially when giving critical diagnosis to the patients. Regarding the statement, ‘when Richard Arrives, the doctor says that there has been no change in his condition, and that there is no remedy for his kind of cancer.’ The statement was harsh and inhumane because it was not delivery ethically. The specialist should have been more empathetic to Richard and consider the effect of his choice of words to the patient’s life. Directly telling a patient that nothing could be done to reverse their condition might be harsh and may cause the patient to develop a panic attack. Besides, the statement could make the patient lose hope for his life and thus affect his health condition more.
Therefore, specialists should develop a friendly relationship with patients to understand them and thus learn of the best way to disclose diagnosis without hurting their feelings. Also, I think the doctor should have used positive language of hope to the cancer victim. For example, he can assure him that the condition can be maintained through therapy and that he could still survive with the disease. All, all the details should not be disclosed at once but occasionally to prepare the victim. In this case, the doctor would have given Richard a clue on the possibility of the illness and encourage him to continue with therapy. Through proper advice, I believe the patient would not have felt as hopeless as he probably felt after the harsh disclosure.