In recent years, our ethics committee received many reports related to conflicts between oncologists and their patients or patient's families over breaking bad news. Some patients were traumatized by the "unkind way" they learned about their condition from their physician. They said the oncologist was "really aggressive" and "uncompassionate," or that he used words like "hopeless," or "nothing I can do." On the other hand, other patients complained that they faced another kind of oncologist, who did not tell them the news at all but rather gave "false hope."
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