Physician self-disclosure theory in clinical communication addresses how to respond to a patient or family's request for a provider's personal recommendation ("what would you do if this were your family member?"), treating it as a proxy trust question rather than a literal request for medical advice, best met by clarifying the patient's own values rather than by supplying a personalized preference. A related principle in surrogate and family communication holds that patient autonomy and the clinician's primary obligation to the patient take precedence over family requests to withhold a diagnosis, requiring the clinician to elicit the patient's own preference for how much information to receive rather than deferring unilaterally to family wishes. Both belong to the field of clinical/oncology communication skills, specifically the subdomain of navigating conflicting stakeholder expectations (patient, family, physician) in serious-illness discussions.
Physician self-disclosure theory in clinical communication addresses how to respond to a patient or family's request for a provider's personal recommendation ("what would you do if this were your fam…