Mr. Archer

Forsythe Archer, a successful scientist with exacting standards and rigid personality, is being given palliative treatment for cancer.  During the course of the relapses and remissions of the disease, MR. Archer has steadfastly refused to discuss his illness with his two teenage children and has barely discussed it with his wife.  He has made her promise to keep it a secret.  His treatment program with its ups and downs has caused severe and unpredictable mood swings, which have exacerbated the children’s emotional problems.

            In an effort to help the children cope with their father’s behavior, Mrs. Archer wants to break the promise and tell the children what is happening.  However when she suggests this to him he angrily rebuffs her.  Mrs. Archer believes his refusal is causing undue distress and she fears for the emotional health of her children; one daughter in particular has been showing serious tendencies toward self-destructive behavior.

            In desperation, she pleads with the family doctor to do whatever he can – even use coercion if necessary – to get her husband to ‘open up,’ lest his cancer destroy not only his life, but the life of one or more of his children.  What should the physician do?


*Levine, Carol, ed. Cases in Bioethics: Selections From the Hastings Center Report. New York: St. Martin's Press, Inc., 1998.