Bad ethics or nice sensitivity?

A young woman went on surgery for a biopsy of a lump she had in her collarbone. She was really aprehensive for anaesthesia's risks, so, she asked the surgeon for a local anaesthetic. The doctor was worried about her having a nervous breakdown, because he had to use a special tool to cut a piece of her bone, but he agreed on her request anyway. The woman was nervous, however, she bravely tolerated everything. They stayed in the OR until the pathologist called on the intercom with the results. The doctor did not want to receive such data throught the intercom, but the pathologist could not listen to the doctor´s insistence on saying that the patient was awake and listening.
The pathologist said that this woman had a serious case of cancer. The woman freaked out, and started screaming and crying for mentioning her children. In a matter of seconds, the anaesthesiologist put her through an IV a milky substance which erases the last ten minutes from memory, and the woman fell in a heavy sleep.
The nurses were quite upset about this, arguing that they should not have done that. However, the doctor only said “Well done” to the anaesthesiologist.
The doctor needed more time to do more tests, and to reasure that things would not change for this young mother. His idea was that, even when anything would change in the patient’s condition, he would have more time to choose the best way to give the worst news. Moreover, the patient would have a different mental preparation to receive whatever comes.
In the end, the woman died from cancer six years later, without knowing of the OR’s incident. The doctor still holds his idea of having done something good. He claims that it is not that anyone can use this drug at any time, but in some moments, you have to reflect upon your patient’s mental welfare. Doctors are not only to fix the physical failures, but to preserve the patients in a hollistic way.
I agree with this doctor’s choice, because it is not that he did not say the truth to this woman, but he managed it in a different way. He cared for the person, not for the medical problem. It would be quite interesting to find more doctors like this one.

Name: Patricia Romano
Title: The Ethics of Erasing a Bad Memory
Date: Monday, Oct. 15, 2007
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1671492,00.html