There are many moral issues in health care, one of them being telling the truth. It is strongly accepted that a doctor must tell the truth to his patient, in order to respect the latter's autonomy. But aren't there cases where telling the truth can be harmful? Can we imagine a world where lying is not allowed? A study of Immanuel Kant's arguments about truth in general, then an analysis of Joseph Collin's ideas on truth in health care could help us better understand the different questions that emerge from this issue. Kant defends the principle that one should never lie, even if it could prevent death. He believes that the phrase "to have a right to the truth" is meaningless and argues that people should instead say that a man has a right to his own truthfulness (603). For him, the truth in statements that cannot be avoided is man's formal duty, regardless of the serious consequences (603). According to him, what jurists consider to be a lie, that is, an intentionally false statement to another man which is intended to injure another, is not proper because a lie always injures another (604). He believes that anyone who lies, no matter how good their intentions, is responsible for the consequences and must pay the penalty (604). He maintains that being truthful in all statements is a “sacred and unconditional command of reason” (604). On the other hand, Joseph Collins takes a different point of view in his presentation. He chooses a negative answer to the question “Should doctors tell patients the truth.” He thinks that telling the whole truth is often committing cruelty of which many are incapable (605). He divides patients into four categories of people: Those who want to know middle of paper try to be more realistic and talk about their experiences. For Kant, lying is always a mistake while Collins thinks that lying contributes to the success of the doctor's work. Kant is stricter on the subject. However, Collins' perception of the topic might be more appealing to people because it involves the reader. Doctors are focused on the well-being of patients and if they think that not telling the whole truth helps them, it should not be considered a mistake. Chen, Pauline. “When doctors don’t tell the truth.” The New York Times. New York Times, March 1, 2012. Web. April 22, 2014.Collins, Joseph. “Should doctors tell the truth? Kuhse and Singer 605-610Kant, Emmanuel. “On an alleged right to lie for altruistic reasons”. Kuhse and Singer 603-604Kuhse, Helga and Peter Singer, eds. Bioethics and Anthology, Malden: Blackwell. 2006. Print