THE RIGHT TO INFORMATION FOR THE TERMINALLY ILL PATIENT

Objectives-To analyse the attitudes of medical personnel towards termi nally ill patients and their right to be fully informed. Design-Self-a dministered questionnaire composed of 56 closed questions. Setting-Thr ee general hospitals and eleven health centres in Granada (Spain). The sample comprised 168 doctors and 207 nurses. Results-A high percentag e of medical personnel (24.1%) do not think that informing the termina lly ill would help them face their illness with greater serenity. Eigh ty-four per cent think the patient's own home is the best place to die : 8.9% of the subjects questioned state that they would not like to be informed of an incurable illness. Conclusion-In our opinion any infor mation given should depend on the patient's personality, the stage of the illness and family circumstances. Our study confirms that a hospit al is not the ideal environment for attending to the needs of the term inally ill and their families.