Changes in Physicians' Attitudes Toward Telling the Cancer Patient

Overview of attention for article published in JAMA: Journal of the American Medical Association, March 1979

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In the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (99th percentile)
High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (98th percentile)

Mentioned by

news: 4 news outlets
blogs: 2 blogs
policy: 1 policy source
twitter: 22 X users

wikipedia: 1 Wikipedia page
reddit: 4 Redditors
guideline: 1 clinical guideline source

Readers on

mendeley: 73 Mendeley

So far, Altmetric has seen 4 Reddit threads by 4 users.

TIL that in 1961, 90% of doctors surveyed said they would not tell a cancer patient their diagnosis, but by 1977 that had reversed, with 97% saying they would.

User JP_Olsen_Archive, in the Today I Learned (TIL) subreddit, 06 Mar 2026

Like you, I am NOT A LAWYER. However, I am a doctor, and I...

User penicilling, in the AskALawyer subreddit, 19 Mar 2025

Like you, I am NOT A LAWYER. However, I am a doctor, and I can say that, like in most things, moral and ethical are not simple.

TIL a study published in 1961 in the Journal of the AMA reported that 90% of doctors in the US had a policy of not telling their patients they had a diagnosis of cancer.

User stigs_cousin, in the Today I Learned (TIL) subreddit, 10 Oct 2018

I don't know where you got that impression, actually. Maybe...

User rasputine, in the Today I Learned (TIL) subreddit, 20 Nov 2013

I don't know where you got that impression, actually. Maybe you should read the citation. http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.as…

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