To Tell or Not to Tell: How Different Perspectives Shape the Ethics of Honesty and Concealment
- Date & time
- –
- Speaker
- Roger Chung
- Host
- Oxford Population Health (OxPop) (Unit)
- Location
- Big Data Institute - Seminar room 0, Seminar room 0 Big Data Institute Old Road Campus Oxford Oxfordshire OX3 7LF United Kingdom
- Organisation
- Oxford
Topics
About this talk
End-of-life bioethics often presents a seemingly sharp divide between Western emphasis on patient autonomy and truth-telling, and some Asian traditions favoring family-centered concealment to prevent psychological harm. This talk unpacks the moral complexity behind this apparent dichotomy. Using the film The Farewell as a case study — where a Chinese-American family conceals a grandmother's terminal cancer diagnosis — I explore how the ethical principle of non-maleficence operates across different cultures. This talk will also attempt to answer the ethical question: does benevolent concealment, even when motivated by care, constitute a fundamental denial of patient agency?
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