Should Patients with Alzheimer's Disease Be Told Their Diagnosis?

. . . Over the past two decades, a growing body of literature has the issue of revealing the diagnosis to patients with cancer, but are problems in applying the same rationale to patients with Alzheimer's. Many of the arguments that support telling the patient with cancer relative accuracy of diagnosis, an array of therapeutic options, a natural history, and a fully competent patient. All these may be in the patient with probable Alzheimer's disease. Despite the belief of experts that the diagnosis should routinely be disclosed to patients with illnesses, this complex issue has not been addressed adequately. The of this paper is to present opposing views on the subject. Although we the concept of truth-telling, there are important caveats that should considered. For the purpose of discussion, we focus on patients with's disease, but many of the considerations are equally applicable to with other progressive dementing illnesses. . . .