I have to inform patients with incurable diseases, but… If it’s my family, it’s’heavy’
Seoul National University Hospital surveyed 928 doctors nationwide and 1,5 general public
(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Jandi Kim = Should we inform patients with terminal cancer, AIDS, Parkinson’s disease, dementia and other incurable diseases?
Research shows that most people, including doctors, agree that patients should be informed that they have a terminal illness.
However, there was a tendency to hesitate to inform them of the incurable disease if’my family’ was a patient than when he was a patient.
The research team of Professor Oh Si-nae and Yoon Young-ho of the Department of Family Medicine at Seoul National University Hospital surveyed 928 doctors nationwide and 1,5 people in the general public about whether patients should disclose the fact that they are in a terminal state of a disease that is difficult to treat. Sun said.
The research team assumes two situations, such as when the person is a patient and when his or her family is a patient. Organ failure, non-curable nervous system diseases such as Lou Gehrig’s disease, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS/AIDS), cerebral infarction or Parkinson’s disease, dementia, etc. They asked if they should let them know that they are suffering from the disease.
As a result, 9 out of 10 agreed that both doctors and the public should be informed that the prognosis is poor.
In the case of doctors, 99.0% of respondents to inform the terminal prognosis were for organ failure, 98.5% for neurological diseases, 98.4% for AIDS, 96.0% for cerebral infarction or Parkinson’s disease, and 89.6% for dementia.
The same was true of the public. Regardless of the type of disease, most people answered that it should be known regardless of the type of disease, such as organ failure 92.0%, neurological disease 92.5%, AIDS 91.5%, cerebral infarction or Parkinson’s disease 92.1%, and dementia 86.9%.
However, in the case of the general public, the rate of having to disclose the facts of incurable disease and the terminal prognosis was lower than that of doctors. In particular, about 10% of respondents said that they should inform their terminal prognosis when their family is a patient than when they were a patient.
For example, doctors answered that 99.0% of patients with organ failure and 98.7% of family members had to inform the terminal prognosis, and there was no difference.
However, the difference was that the response that the general public should inform the terminal prognosis was 92.0% when the person is in organ failure and 88.5% when the family is a patient. In the case of dementia, 86.9% of respondents said they should inform their prognosis when they are a patient, but 78.5% said that they should report if their family is dementia.
As a matter to consider when notifying patients of a terminal condition that is difficult to treat, 31.6% of the respondents answered that both doctors and the general public should respect’the patient’s right to know their condition’.
Professor Yoon said, “In this study, it was confirmed that most people agree that patients should be informed of the terminal prognosis for diseases other than cancer.” “We need to be able to decide whether to do it or not.”
The research results were published in the International Journal of Korean Medicine (JKMS).
[email protected]
(End)
–
Copyrightⓒ Korea Economic Daily TV. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized reproduction and redistribution prohibited
