ON TELLING DIFFICULT TRUTHS

Abstract

To deprive the patient of honest communication because we cannot know everything is not only confused thinking but immoral....This argument also raises another human failing—to confuse the difficult with the unimportant. Passing information to people who have more restricted background, whether through lack of experience or of understanding, can be extremely difficult and time-consuming, but this is no reason why it should be shunned. Quite the reverse. Like the difficult passages in a piece of music, these tasks should be practiced, studied and techniques developed so that communication is efficient and effective.