You are an oncologist who has been treating a woman for breast cancer for the past 5 years. Up to just recently you have been able to hold the disease in check but her last set of CT and bone scans indicate that the disease has rapidly advanced despite combination chemotherapy.

There are no more FDA approved agents that you have to offer. In addition, she told you in the past that she doesn't want to be in a Phase I or II clinical trial, despite your opinion that an experimental agent offered her the best chance for several additional months of survival. Hence, you feel that you have little to offer to her therapeutically at this point.

She asks you directly about her prognosis. Although you believe that it is quite poor, i.e., of the order of 2-3 months, you don't want to give her your true opinion because you know she has a history of severe depression. Instead, you tell her that she must not lose hope. To try to support her psychologically, you mention that her prognosis doesn't even qualify her for admission to hospice because admission to hospice needs a diagnosis of a terminal condition with an estimated survival of less than 6 months.

Discussion:
Is this deception justified or not and why?

Can you think of a time when deception might be justifiable? Explain.