New York Times Article: Are These 10 Lies Justified?

In the New York Times article “Are these 10 Lies Justified?” the question is asked; is all lying bad or are there scenarios where telling a “little white lie” can be justified? The article mentions ten different lying situations. Leaving it up to the reader to assess whether the lie is legitimized or not. Lie number three is a tricky situation that can put a son in a difficult position to do what is best for his father:

Your father suffers from severe dementia and is in a nursing home. When it is time for you to leave he becomes extremely agitated and often has to be restrained. On the occasions when you have said you would be back tomorrow he was quite peaceful about your leaving. You tell him now every time you leave that you will be back

There is a very fine line between a lie being hurtful and a lie being beneficial. In the case of the father and the son, I believe the son lying to his father was more beneficial than the negative effects of the father becoming agitated. Therapeutic lying can beneficial in controlled settings. The emotions exhibited when the father is upset can be brutal and dangerous to himself and to the people around him. Although I think that lying was justified in this scenario, I think lying to dementia victims should be taken seriously and extreme selectivity should be used in order to not further upset the sufferer with conflicting

We both recognize the lasting impact lies can have, but I see some of those impacts can be beneficial. The emotions felt by dementia patients are real; when the son tells his father that he will be back tomorrow then he is comforted by that thought. If a father is agitated that his son is leaving then those emotions can be difficult and unhealthy for both parties. On the other hand, the emotions felt when someone realizes they have been lied to can also be extremely difficult. We can find compromise in the use of positive redirections that are sensitive toward the patients’ individual needs. Some of these redirections could involve lies. A good compromise for nurses might be to create a policy that monitors and restricts the lies told to dementia patients so that trust can be maintained between nurses and