Is Medical Ethics Universal or Culture Specific?

This fascinating question is addressed in a open access paper by Furqaan Ahmed. Subtitled "A patient's right not to know", the article is available for free download in PDF format here.


A sample paragraph: 
After completing my training in the United States, I began my practice as a gastroenterologist and hepatologist in my hometown of Karachi. One of the first patients I saw in my fledgling practice was a 65-year-old man with advanced esophageal cancer referred to me for palliative esophageal metal stenting. I spent a great deal of time explaining the nature of the disease to the patient and his family, as well as the somewhat limited options he had given the advanced state of his malignancy. I was greeted with blank stares and thought to myself “surely I am not the first one to explain these things to them and the doctor who sent him to me for a palliative procedure must have told them something”. The patient and most of his relatives thanked me and left the consultation room. One son stayed back and then angrily asked me “Why did you tell him these things? He didn’t know he has cancer! What right do you have to disclose this to him? As his family we know him best and know what is best for him and how much information he can handle.” I was dumbfounded and mumbled some apologies. The patient never returned to me for esophageal stenting.