Ethical dilemmas in communicating bad news following histopathology examination.

PURPOSE: The study proposes an analysis of the ethical aspects that occur in communicating bad news following histopathology laboratory tests in medical practice, in particular in the case of the anatomical pathology diagnosis confirming a medical condition of poor prognosis.

BACKGROUND: Over the last decades, the progress of science and technology in the medical field, as well as the explosive increase of specialist information available on the Internet have led to unprecedented ethical issues related to the communication modality of histopathology test results to patients.

CONTENT: The paper analyses from an ethical and legislative perspective the main ethical dilemmas that occur when choosing a modality for communicating test results.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: While communicating bad news is an essential ability for medical professionals, it should be used within the context of observing the patients' right to decide whether they wish to receive such information or not and their right to their own autonomy, by means of a personalized protocol for communicating bad news in current medical practice.