title: Lying to patients: can it ever be justified?
abstract: The acts of withholding information from patients and of deliberately issuing false information have been embodied in nursing and medical practice for centuries. The author considers the relationship of veracity, or truth-telling, to the four established tenets of medical ethics: autonomy, justice, beneficence and non-maleficence. Although there are occasions when withholding information can be supported, particularly when the patient has requested that this be so, she concludes that there can be no moral justification for health professionals lying to patients.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Martin
mesh_terms: D004993:Ethics, Nursing; D005610:Freedom; D006801:Humans; D014342:Truth Disclosure