MARC AGRONIN: “Frank, but not blunt” is how one textbook on medical ethics advises its doctor-readers to impart bad news to a patient. Most doctors today are generally good at this approach, girded by in-depth tests, scans and tissue samples that confirm the diagnosis. Gone is the doctor’s paternalism of days past when serious diagnoses like cancer were simply kept from the patient.
So why is there such a gap with disclosing a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease? According to a recent report by the Alzheimer’s Association, more than half of people with Alzheimer’s disease or their caregivers have not received the diagnosis from their doctors.