Did you know...When individuals are diagnosed with cancer, the families of these individuals request the doctors and nurses not to share this information with their family member. Therefore, these cancer patients have no idea why they are recieving radiation therapy. All they know is that they are sick and they are getting treatment for their illness. Most of the radiation departments in Karachi do not display the word "cancer" anywhere in any language. In the western, withholding of medical information is considered a violation of our basic rights and rightly so. We do have the right to know what type of illness we are battling with. Afterall, it is our body. Also, it is against the medical oath that all doctors take before practicing medicine. The oath to practice ethically and to share medical information with their patients, which includes all options for treatment, their benefits and their side effects. This violation is enough to suspend a doctor's medical practice.

However, in Pakistan, the word "cancer" is quickly associated with another word....death. Families feel that if patients know they have cancer, then they will lose all hope to live and hence, lose the will to fight. And we know that if you lose the will to live then there is a possibility that no amount of treatment will work. So what would be considered a violation of our human rights and a violation against the medical oath is actually working for the benefit of these cancer patients. If you think about it, doctors are also ethically obliged to protect their patients in any way possible and to work for their betterment. So if you dont tell someone they have cancer because you feel that if you do, they will see no hope for the future and will not work towards their treatment, then is that considered ethically appropriate? Is the doctor protecting the patient?
We may also be thinking that families have no right to interfere in their family member's life. Why would you withhold something that could greatly affect someone's life? But isn't that also the product of an individualistic society? Are we only concerned with ourselves that we do not realize the impact of our actions and behaviours on others? Our families only want the best for us....their intentions cannot be that hurtful.....