Disclosure of prognosis to terminally ill patients: attitudes and practices among French physicians

Abstract

Background: Disclosure of the prognosis to terminally ill patients is a strong prerequisite for integrating the physical, psychological, spiritual, and social aspects of end-of-life care.

Objective: This study aimed to assess French physicians' general attitudes and effective practices (with patients followed up to death recently) toward such disclosure.

Design/subjects: We used data from a cross-sectional survey conducted among a national sample of 917 French general practitioners, oncologists, and neurologists.

Results: A majority of respondents opted for prognosis disclosure only at patients' request, very few opted for systematic disclosure without patient's request, and a significant minority opted for systematic concealment. Concerning deceased patients described by respondents, 44.5% of competent patients were informed of prognosis by their physician, 27.3% were informed by someone else, 9.0% refused to be informed, and 19.2% were simply not informed. Concealment was more frequent for older patients, and physicians involved in a nongovernmental organization (NGO) for patients' support were more likely to disclose the prognosis, even without patient's request.

Conclusions: Disclosure of the prognosis to terminally ill patients is still far from systematic in France. Further research is needed to better understand the motivations of French physicians' disclosure practices, which are probably culturally shaped.