[To what extent do patients with coronary heart disease want to be informed?]

To what extent do patients suffering from coronary heart disease want to be informed? New legislation on patients' rights, passed in Austria in 1993, laid down what information patients are entitled to received. This raises dilemmas. On the one hand the patient has the right to be fully informed about his condition, on the other hand, disclosure could cause sufficient stress to impair the prognosis. The doctor must balance his duty to inform against the therapeutic reasons not to inform, in his duty to care. The empirical part of this research is concerned with the wish to be informed, of patients with coronary heart disease. A questionnaire was administered to patients after bypass operation. It is hoped that the results will be helpful to doctors. Nurses, who are not legally entitled to give information may, nevertheless, find it helpful to know about patients' individual needs for information, when they deliver professional nursing care.