Abstract

The questionaire about truth telling to skin cancer patients and informed consentwas underwent at the 8th annual meeting of the Japanese society for skin cancer, 1992. Ninety physicians replied the questionaire. Main results; only 17% (15/90) of subjectshad a policy of informing the correct diagnosis to the patients, while 93% (85/90) of subjects have informed the diagnosis to the family of the patients. 76% (68/90) agreedthe necessity of informed consent and truth telling theoretically but 49% (44/90) feltthe difficulty to do it practically. 29% (26/90) of the subjects approved the promotinof informed consent to the skin cancer patients, while 63% (57/90) took a prudentattitude to this problem. There were a variety of opinions concerned with informedconsent and additional problems. We may need a further discussion about theseproblems.