(CM 1145) To Lie or Not to Lie? - The Doctor's Dilemma

 “Should doctors ever lie to benefit their patients-to speed recovery or to conceal the approach of death?”

     Take this situation; a forty-five year old man went to the doctor for a routine check-up before going on vacation with his family, and the doctor found cancer in his brain that would kill him within the next six months. Should the doctor wait until the man gets back from his vacation so he can enjoy it, or should the doctor tell him right away and ruin his vacation? In my opinion, it doesn’t matter what the situation or circumstances are; it is not right to lie. If the patient finds out later rather than sooner, they will feel betrayed and mislead and they will probably disown their doctor. There are a lot of benefits for telling the truth, for example it helps patients cope with their illness and helps them tolerate pain better. If doctors lie, a patient who is extremely ill will be unable to make decisions about the end of their life. This could include whether or not to be admitted into a hospital, have surgery, or who to spend the remainder of their life with. Doctors need to realize that time is everything. 

Should adopted children be told about their biological parents? 

     I definitely think they should! When the child reaches a certain age it is the parents’ responsibility to tell the child where they came from. They deserve to know who their real parents are and why they didn’t want them. If the adoptive parents fail to do this and the child eventually figures it out, they will feel very hurt and betrayed. I understand the parents view; they don’t want to hurt the child or worry them but at the same time, all lies come out eventually. The truth hurts but so do lies.

     I was in a relationship for two and a half years and I thought I was in love; what we had was not love. After a year of dating, he began to change. He started to lie constantly and make up excuses for everything. There was one night during the summer when I wanted to hang out with him because we both worked during the week, and night time or weekends were the only time we could see each other. I asked him to hang out and he said no because he was sick and that he just wanted to relax and play x box. I understood completely so I told him that was alright and we could just hang out another night. So the next day I was at the mall and I ran into some of his friends and they told me they saw him at a party at someone’s cabin and he was drinking. I was really hurt by this because he lied to me and this wasn’t the first time he did it. I kept giving him chances but he just kept wasting them.This may sound like a stupid reason to get upset but if you don't have trust in a relationship, than you don't have a relationship. Eventually we broke up and honestly, I’ve never been happier. The truth always comes out in the end so you might as well get it out in the beginning. I was heart broken when the truth came out but I was hurt worse because of the lies. If it wasn’t for the truth, I would still be in a pathetic relationship that had no trust.

"Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters." -Albert Einstein

if only everyone's nose grew when they lied...