1. Do you think that there are ever any overriding considerations that make it t

1. Do you think that there are ever any overriding considerations that make it the case that doctors should not tell the whole truth to their patients? What should doctors do, for instance, when patients explicitly do not want to know the truth or are incapaciated (and therefore cannot know the truth)?
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2. The prominent American sociologist Renée Fox argues that the focus on autonomy and the will of the individual in healthcare is unique to Western culture and should not be seen as written in stone. “From the outset, the conceptual framework of bioethics has accorded paramount status to the value-complex of individualism, underscoring the principles of individual rights, autonomy, self-determination, and their legal expression in the jurisprudential notion of privacy.” (Fox 1990, p. 206) Fox argues that that much—if not most—of the world embraces a value system that places the family, the community, or the society as a whole above that of the individual person. Do you find Fox’s criticism compelling? If so, can you provide an example of how other cultures might place the emphasis of their healthcare system elsewhere? If not, what would you say to someone like Fox who points out that individual freedom is not the basis of every cultural system?