This is only a rough draft of what I had started on.
And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. (John 8:32)
Why warn at all?
The first issue of concern here is the possibility of a preventable medical error occurring, namely that a patient could have a diagnosed disease and not be aware of it.
The central ethical question in this case pertains to the duty to warn. The attending presumably agrees that the patient has a right to know about her diagnosis, but also believes that because (a) the patient probably already knows of the diagnosis, and (b) there is no estab…
