Information on Patients

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28440, 21 November 1957, Page 3

Information on Patients

Sir, —It often happens that relations are told what disease a patient has and the patient is deliberately kept in ignorance. I know of two cases where, if the patient had known the nature of his ailment, he would have tried something which might have proved effective. As the doctors admitted they could do no more, surely a patient should be told the truth about his disease; at least this is what he is paying his doctor fbr and has the right to expect. In one case a brother rang the doctor and suggested a remedy which might prove beneficial and he was told that if he interfered he, the doctor, would drop the case. This meant no more pain-relieving medicine. It was not until he was dead that the brother learnt that the patient did not know the nature of his disease. —Yours, etc., F. W. STEVENS. November 18, 1957.

Rat Tails as Cinema Admission Fee.—Ten rat tails entitle you to a free film in the town of Gapan in northern Luzon. Mayor Basilio Manuel has offered a free seat in his theatre to anyone who presents ten rat tails at the gate. “I want to help in the government campaign against this enemy of our farmers,” he explained. He is said to have thousands of rat tails now.