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Not only do lies not provide the "help" hoped for by advocates of benevolent deception; they invade the autonomy of patients and render them unable to make informed choices concerning their own health, including the choice of whether to be patient in the first place. We are becoming increasingly aware of all that can befall patients in the course of their illness when information is denied or distorted.
谎言不仅不能提供鼓吹"仁慈"欺骗的人们所希望的那种"帮助"，它还侵犯了病人的个人自由，使他们不能对有关自己健康的问题作出明达的选择，包括要不要就医这一首要的选择。我们越来越意识到，病人发病期间，在不知病情或未被如实地告知病情的情况下，他们会遭到什么样的不幸。
Dying patients especially - who are easiest to mislead and most often kept in the dark - canthen not make decisions about the end of life: about whether or not they should enter a hospital, or have surgery; about where and with whom they should spend their remaining time; about how they should bring their affairs to a close and take leave.
特别是濒临死亡的病人-他们最易受骗也最会被人蒙在鼓里-因此而不能作出临终前的种种有关抉择: 是否要住进医院，或进行手术，在何处与何人度过所剩下的一点时间，以及如何处理完自己的事务而后与世长辞。
Lies also do harm to those who tell them: harm to their integrity and, in the long run, to their credibility. Lies hurt their colleagues as well. The suspicion of deceit undercuts the work of the many doctors who are scrupulously hones with their patients; it contributes to the spiral of lawsuits and of "defensive medicine," and thus it injures, in turn, the entire medical profession.
谎言也伤害说谎的人，损害他们的诚实，并最终损害他们的信誉。谎言还伤害他们的同事。由于病人怀疑有欺骗行为，许多对病人十分开诚布公的医生的工作也因此受到影响。病人的不信任使医疗诉讼案增多，造成医生避免风险的"防御性诊治"增多，而这些又进而有损于整个医疗事业。
