Emma Levine

So actually a substantial amount, even if your partner is likely to recover, think it's acceptable to lie to them about cheating.

But this number goes up.

It almost doubles when you know your partner is about to pass away.

If your partner's about to pass away, in our particular vignette, we say they're likely to die within the next 24 hours.

Now, about 64% of participants believe the right thing to do is to lie.

And again, what's the value of this information?

Maybe it unburdens you as the communicator.

You want to get it off your chest at the last moment that you have with this person.

But for them...

This is just something that causes emotional harm and there's no relationship in which they can learn from this anymore.

think it really highlights the

This, you know, the story, the farewell takes place in China.

And particularly within the medical domain, there is a lot more emphasis in China than in the U.S.

on hope and protection.

And so it will feel maybe like an obligation among family members to protect their elders from negativity and despair, which comes from a cancer diagnosis.

Right.

And that's, you know, something you hear that Wang's father is proud of, proud of honoring that value.

And in the U.S., we don't really hear that, right?

In the U.S., there's much greater moral emphasis on autonomy, the duty to inform others above the duty to provide hope.

And so I think you just see this come out in different ways where we have different moral attitudes towards honesty, particularly at this end-of-life situation.