Read Mack Lipkin’s brief article “On Telling Patients the Truth” (Newsweek, June 4, 1979). He offers a number of justifications for lying to patients in at least some situations. Given what you have learned from the Reading & Study material, address the following questions about Lipkin’s article:
in 200 words or more pls
- Lipkin offers a number of reasons to justify lying to patients. What are these? Do you think they justify lying, or is there an alternative to lying?
- How would you ethically classify Lipkin: Utilitarian? Deontologist? Virtue ethicist? Support your selection.
- A nurse with over 20 years’ experience once confided to the instructor that “nurses lie regularly to their patients. They are not usually big lies, just little things. It’s often the only way we can get them to cooperate and do what we need them to do.” Evaluate this claim. Do you agree? Why or why not?