Public opinions regarding informing terminal patients and their families about impending death

ABSTRACT

To tell or not to tell the terminal patients and their families about the impending death is a crucial question facing many health personnel. This study aimed at revealing the opinions of the community in Alexandria regarding this issue, and to relate these opinions to the interviewees, socio-biological variables. Using cross-sectional design, 416 subjects were randomly selected, and interviewed. The study revealed that the majority of the subjects agreed on informing the families, while less than half of them agreed on informing the patients. Informing the patient was stated more by men, and highly educated subjects, while informing the families was stated more by women, ever married and older subjects. Medical reasons were the commonest ones for informing, while emotional reasons were the commonest for hiding the truth