Patient Notification and Cancer in Russia and the Soviet Union

[Jesse Stavis]

I'm surprised that no one has noted the role that this practice plays in Solzhenitsyn's Раковый корпус. If memory serves me correct, even the chief doctor in the ward is refused an accurate diagnosis when she contracts cancer from x-ray exposure. 

Best,
Jesse Stavis

Ph.D. Candidate
Department of Slavic Languages and Literature
University of Wisconsin-Madison



On 09/22/14, Brian Hayden  wrote:
> Dear SEELANGers,
> 
> I've heard from a few different sources that in the Soviet Union doctors sometimes (often? almost always?) would not notify the patient if they found cancer. Was this official policy or a professional custom? Did it apply only to cancer, or to other diseases that would likely end up being fatal? What was the exact rationale behind / philosophical underpinning of this move?
> 
> 
> Sincerely,
> 
> 
> Brian Hayden
> 
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