Ethics

Should Elderly Patients Be Told They Have Cancer?

Published in Cancer Weekly, December 11th, 2001

A study finds that 88% of older people would like to be told if they developed cancer, despite evidence that doctors fail to inform patients, particularly older people, when they diagnose cancer.

A total of 270 people ages 65 to 94 years completed questionnaires to assess their opinions about cancer and how much they would wish to know about their diagnosis.

Altogether 238 (88%) respondents wanted to be informed of the diagnosis, whereas 11% did not and 1% were indifferent. Only 6.4% of those under 75 years did not want to be informed, compared with 13.7% of those 75 or over, according to the study published in the November 15, 2001, issue of the...

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Source: Cancer Weekly (2001-12-11)

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