In this section there are several reading passages followed by
a total of twenty multiple-choice questions. Read the passages and then mark
your answers on your answer sheet. TEXT A Should doctors ever lie to
benefit their patients—to speed recovery or to conceal the approach of death In
medicine as in law, government, and other lines of work, the requirements of
honesty often seem dwarfed by greater needs: the need to shelter from brutal
news or to uphold a promise of secrecy; to expose corruption or to promote the
public interest. What would doctors say, for example, to a
46-year-old man coming in for a routine physical checkup just before going on
vacation with his family who, though he feels in perfect health, is found to
have a form of cancer that will cause him to die within six months Is it best
to tell him the truth If he asks, should the doctors deny that he is ill, or
minimize the gravity of the illness Should they at least conceal the truth
until after the family vacation Doctors confront such choices
often and urgently. At times, they see important reasons to lie for the
patient’s own sake; in their eyes, such lies differ sharply from self-serving
ones. Studies show that most doctors sincerely believe that the
seriously ill do not want to know the truth about their condition, and that
informing them risks destroying their hope, so that they may recover more
slowly, or deteriorate faster, perhaps even commit suicide, As one physician
wrote: "ours is a profession which traditionally has been guided by a precept
that transcends the virtue of uttering the truth for truth’s sake, and that is
as for as possible do harm." Armed with such precept, a number
of doctors my slip into deceptive practices that they assume will "do no harm"
and may will help their patients. They may prescribe innumerable placebos, sound
more encouraging than the facts warrant, and distort grave news, especially to
the incurably ill and the dying. But the illusory nature of the
benefits such deception is meant to produce is now coming to be documented.
Studies show that, contrary to the belief of many physicians, an overwhelming
majority of patients do want to be told the truth, even about grave illness, and
feel betrayed when they learn that they have been misled. We are also learning
that truthful information, humanely conveyed, helps patients cope with illness:
helps them tolerate pain better, need less medicine, and even recover faster
after surgery. Not only do lies not provide the "help" hoped for
by advocates of benevolent deception; they invade the autonomy of patients and
render them unable to make informed choices concerning their own health,
including the choice of whether to be a patient in the first place. We are
becoming increasingly aware of all that can befall patients in the course of
their illness when information is denied or distorted. Dying
patients especially—who are easiest to mislead and most often kept in the
dark—can then not make decision about the end of life: about whether or not they
should enter a hospital, or have surgery; about where and with whom they should
spend their remaining time; about how they should bring their affairs to close
and take leave. Lies also do harm to those who tell them: harm
to their integrity and, in the long run, to their credibility. Lies hurt their
colleagues as well. The suspicion of deceit undercuts the work of the many
doctors who are scrupulously honest with their patients; it contributes to the
spiral of lawsuits and of "defensive medicine," and thus it injure, in turn, the
entire medical profession. Sharp conflicts are now arising.
Patients are learning to press for answers. Patients’ bills of rights require
that they be informed about their condition and about alternatives for
treatment. Many doctors go to great eloquent bill of rights, believers in
benevolent deception continue their age-old practices. Colleagues may disapprove
but refrain from objecting. Nurses may bitterly resent having to take part, day
after day, in deceiving patients, but feel powerless to take a stand.
There is urgent need to debate this issue openly. Not only in medicine,
but in other professions as well, practitioners may find themselves repeatedly
in difficulty where serious consequences seem avoidable only through deception.
Yet the public has every reason, to be wary of professional deception, for such
practices are peculiarly likely to become deeply rooted, to or the social
sciences can there be comfort in the old saying, "what you don’t know can’t hurt
you."(737 words) From the text we may deduce that the author is inclined to think that doctors should ______.
A.lie to benefit their patients B.lie to the dying and the seriously ill only C.lie when serious consequences are avoidable only through deception D.be honest, with their patients