Family keeping Information from the Patient

[gallor31]

Hello All:

I am a nursing student researching the ethical dilemma of a family's wish to keep information from a patient. As I research this topic, I find that there is limited EBP research related to the topic. This topic maybe a non-issue since patient's rights laws are so conclusive about the right of a patient's medical information. Can someone point me to some articles or keywords related to this topic? perhaps I am not using the right terms for the search? thank you all

Rafael

[JKL33]

Paternalism definitely comes to mind as mentioned above. Unfortunately basic texts may represent it as if it's mostly a physician thing, when in reality many actions of truth-withholding by family members and others derive from that same spirit of believing one "knows better" than the patient and therefore should be able to circumvent patient autonomy.

Agree 100% with the comment #10 as well. So many times the effort isn't as much about the patient as it's made out to be. Not that there is any malicious intent whatsoever...more just human nature.

[vampiregirl, BSN, RN]

Another aspect to consider might be culture as you are conducting your search.