One of the basic expectations the public have of doctors is honesty. But what would you think if I told you that research has shown that 70 percent of doctors admitted to lying to their patients?
This seems unimaginable but I have told lies to several patients whose spouses had died Mrs. Walton was in her eighties and desperate to see her husband. She'd been in hospital after a fall and was in pain. She called out for him frequently and couldn't understand why he wasn't there to comfort her. She w25 becoming more upset and would try to get up to find him, despite being at risk of falling again He's on bis way, don't worry," the nurses would say and this would calm her down. She'd smile and roll her eyes and say how he was always late for things and tell the same story about him being late for their wedding nearly 60 years ago.
Part of the natural history of many of the dementias (痴呆), in particular Alzheimer's disease which is what Mrs. Walton had, is that the sufferer loses their memory of recent events, but retains memories from the distant past. Sufferers are trapped forever in a bewildering past It is acutely upsetting and tormenting. Many of the behavioral difficulties that I have seen in those with dementia relate to them feeling scared and confused that they are surrounded by strange people, even when they are surrounded by their family, because they have regressed back to decades ago. They look at their adult children confused and wonder who they could be because they think their children are still toddlers.
How does one deal with this? 1 have had countless families break down in tears in clinics, not knowing what to say or how to react as their loved one moves further and further away from them back into their distant past and they are left behind in the present The lies that doctors and nurses tell these patients are not big, elaborate lies- they are brief reassurances intended to comfort and allow the subject to be swiftly changed. It is, when done in the right way, kind and compassionate. Sometimes, honesty is simply not the best policy.
