Cancer investigation
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Until recently physicians have been reluctant to disclose a poor prognosis to patients for fear of harming them with the bad news and/or taking away their will to live. In the last decades we have seen a reversal of practice among Western physicians, and most doctors readily disclose to their patients the full extant of their disease. ⋯ This emphasis on complete honesty with patients might not reflect the practice in non-Western cultures. In disclosing a poor prognosis to a patient the physician must do so with cultural sensitivity, compassion and letting the patient decide how much he or she wants to know.