The Pros And Cons Of Withholding The Information

One may disagree with these reasons, however, and say that it is not justifiable for a doctor to withhold information from their minor patient in any case. For example, children may hear whispering or talk surrounding them and know that a secret is being kept. According to Cole & Kurdish (2013), research shows that “withholding information may result in the child’s imagining a worse scenario or a least a different scenario.” This imagined situation could then create the same anxiety and depression that withholding the information was intending to prevent. Also by withholding the diagnosis, the child is prevented from participating in therapeutic resources such as support groups or cognitive therapy that could help them cope with the disease much more completely and quickly than a child who has been denied access to these resources. Even though the physician and parents may have had the well being of the child in mind when choosing to withhold the information, they are actually unintentionally harming the child’s emotional development even further.

It should be taken into consideration by the parents and physician in the decision making process, but the possibility of future distress is not enough to outweigh the likelihood of current distress. Another factor that must be taken into consideration is the individual patient’s developmental stage. In the case of the 8-year-old girl, she most likely would be more cognitively prepared to understand the meaning of an HIV diagnosis and emotionally ready to engage in the support groups or therapy proposed above when she is older. Therefore, the information should be withheld from her at the current time and the physician should feel morally sound in that