Should you withhold the diagnosis of cancer?

[Tony64]

My golfing buddy is a hospital CEO and recently had a problem with one of his staff doctors. We've been casual friends and neighbors for a long time, and I've been a regular benefactor of his hospital. He asked me for my objective opinion, but I don't think he liked my response.

One of his doctors was treating an elderly woman for a cancerous intestinal growth. She was of competent mind, but had assigned a power of attorney to her eldest daughter. The doctor discussed the situation with the family, including the patient, the daughter with POA, and two other adult children. The family told the doctor that their mother did not want to hear the CANCER word, so the doctor instead used the word POLYP with a tumor inside that can spread. The patient then agreed to have surgery and all went well until a nurse found a note on the patient's chart saying not to use the CANCER word and "patient unaware of diagnosis". The nurse then called her supervisor and up the chain of command it went until landing squarely in the lap of the hosptial CEO, who then admonished the doctor and wanted to know why he had done surgery without first informing the patient that she had cancer.

Clearly he feels it was wrong for the doctor to do the operation without specifically telling patient she had CANCER. I disagreed and sided with the family and the doctor and suggested that he and his nursing staff had created a problem where none existed.

Maybe my view lacks proper consideration for the old woman though, and I'm curious to hear TRF opinion. Perhaps it's different by culture, ethnicity, or nationality? Maybe there are liability issues I haven't considered, or specific rules of conduct that this doctor may have violated? Either way he was clearly not pleased with my lack of support for his position. I didn't find out what happened to the doctor, and at that point it seemed imprudent to ask.

Of one thing I'm certain and that's the diversity of this forum affords great opportunity for discussion. I'd appreciate any thoughts, especially if anyone has ever been in that situation.