末期• 臨終의 病況眞實通告如否를 둘러싼 入院患者側 態度調査

Attitudes of In-Patients toward Telling Truth to The Dying Patients

As the concepts and missions of medicine are reevaluated, the role of medical practice has extended beyond the ‘cure’ of disease or mere prolongation of life, to how to help dying patients. One of the most frequently debated questions in managing dying patients is whether the patients should be inform ed about their imminent death. The purpose of this study is to investigate the dying patient’s attitudes and preferences whether they would like to be told the truth or not. The authers interviewed 108 in-patients admitted to internal medicine ward, Seoul National University Hospital. Results are as follows; 1. The majority of the patients (84%) wanted to know the seriousness of their disease, even if it was fatal illness. 2. The majority of patients {76%) wanted to hear direct from the physician about the truth. However, a few patients would prefer to get the inform ation from the family (20% ), and they showed tendency to deny their illnesses. 3. Closeness with the family was not necessarily associated with prefering to get the information from his or her own family. 4. The majority of patients prefered their own home to the hospital as the place to die (67% ). 5. There was no significant relation between the intensity of fear of death and the patient’s religion, age, education and the experience of wittnessing other s death. 6. Informing the patients about the seriousness of the disease involved not only telling truth and the detailed explanation of the illness, but also humane understanding and emotional support. 7. It was found that a warm emotional relationship with the family was considered as the greatest support (38%) in the dying process. The physician was the next m ajor sourcethey chose as emotional support to depend upon.