Cancer Diagnosis Communication: Analysis of the Physician Behavior

Abstract

Introduction: cancer diagnosis is not often communicated to the patients most of the time, which generates a series of discussions in the area of medical ethics. Objective: to examine the conduct of medical specialists in oncology and with non-specialists, when the communication of the cancer diagnosis, and to address the ethical issues related to this context. Methods: the authors assessed, in a prospective manner, 396 patients and their families referred by 76 physicians to specialized emergency surgery clinics for cancer from the period of 2002 to 2006. Results: two hundred and ninety one patients were female and one hundred and five were male. In relation to the topography of the lesion, most of them were in the abdomen or pelvis (86%), and 9% of the tumors originated in the head and neck, 4% in the thorax and 1% in members. The diagnosis omission index was 28.5%. Non-specialist doctors did not inform 87.9% of their patients, while the specialized doctors omitted the diagnosis in 6.4% of the cases. Family members of the non-informed patients were only communicated 27.4% of the time. 14.2% of cases, family members complained, before visiting, that patient was not aware of the neoplasia. Conclusion: the omission index of information was higher between non-specialist doctors; but, it was not zero between those who usually work with the cancer.