Telling the truth to the terminal-stage cancer patients differs socio-culturally based on the priorities assigned to patients’ autonomy and the principles of beneficence and non-maleficence. After conducting in-depth interviews with 108 terminal-stage adult cancer patients, 306 family members, and 25 physicians, in private and public hospitals in both rural and urban areas, in the state of West Bengal, India it has been found that even though 85.60% of the patients prefer full disclosure, only 22.03% are actually informed. Though demographic characteristics, like age, gender, education etc., have marginal influences over the pattern of truth-telling, the main factor behind non-disclosure is the family members’ preference for principles of beneficence and non-maleficence over patient autonomy. Hence, only 9.32% of those 118 patients’ family members have agreed to full disclosure. Physicians comply with this culture of non-disclosure as family, in India, is the centre of decision-making and acts as the primary unit of care.

根据分配给患者自主权的优先顺序以及仁慈和非恶意的原则，向晚期癌症患者说实话在社会文化上有所不同。在对印度西孟加拉邦农村和城市地区私立和公立医院的 108 名晚期成年癌症患者、306 名家庭成员和 25 名医生进行深入访谈后发现，即使85.60%的患者希望充分告知，但真正知情的仅占22.03%。虽然年龄、性别、教育程度等人口特征对说真话的模式影响不大，但不透露真相的主要因素是家庭成员对善意和非恶意原则的偏好，而不是病人的自主权。因此，只有 9 个。这118名患者家属中，有32%同意全面披露。在印度，医生遵守这种保密文化，因为家庭是决策的中心，也是护理的主要单位。