Breaking Bad News in the Provider-Recipient Context: Understanding the Hesitation to Share Bad News from the Sender’s Perspective

Arguably, information represents the most critical commodity in healthcare settings. Providers and recipients both require timely and accurate information to make the best decisions regarding the recipient’s care. Unfortunately, health outcomes are not always positive. Healthcare providers often find themselves in the position of having to share negative information with their recipients and their recipients’ families. Sharing negative information is commonly referred to as breaking bad news. And because bad news typically contains information directly relevant to the recipient, it is important that providers are able to break bad news optimally.