Question 11:  How much do you want to know
about your medical condition and prognosis?

     The sharing of medical information and opinions
is a problem both for the doctors and the patients (and their families).
But if you explain how much truth you want to hear
and how you would like to receive this information,
then your doctors will be able to communicate with you better.
This is a good place in your Advance Directive to tell your doctors
exactly how much you want to know about your medical situation.

     Often doctors do not know how much truth the patient wants.
Can the doctor hint at the truth without 'tipping off' everyone
that the facts are much worse than everyone had assumed?
If your doctor asks, "Do you want the whole truth?",
he or she has already suggested that the situation might be bleak.
Doctors often face the puzzle of how much to share—and with whom.

     But if you say in writing how much you want to know,
then this hinting-and-guessing game can be avoided.
You can decide how much you want to know in advance,
completely independent of the medical facts that might develop later.

     You might decide you want the whole, unvarnished truth.
Or you could instruct your doctors to tell your proxies first,
who would then decide the best time to share the information with you.
Perhaps you want a 'softer' version of the truth.
For example, if you are dying, perhaps you do not want that information.
You would prefer to continue to be treated as if you would recover.

     And when you discuss this Question in advance with your doctor,
before any health crisis emerges,
your doctor can help you to clarify just how much you want to know.
It might even be necessary to re-write your Answer to this Question
so that both you and your doctor understand
just when and how medical information will be communicated.

     Such a prior agreement will simplify communication later
—when the doctor has discovered some definite facts about your health.
You and your doctor will not need to dance around the truth,
the doctor trying to 'feel out' just how much you want to know
and you trying to 'read between the lines' of what the doctor says
to see if there is something further that is not being disclosed.

QUESTION 11:             MEDICAL INFORMATION             by JAMES PARK              115

   
    The selection above is the first page Question 11 from the book:
Your Last Year: Creating Your Own Advance Directive for Medical Care.
If you click this title, you will see the complete table of contents.
There are two more pages about getting the medical information you want.
If you would like to see one person's Answer to this Question,
go to James Park's Advance Directive for Medical Care.
Scroll down to Answer 11.