6-year-old Girl in Patient Safety, Preventive & Ethics — 6yo Child | Ethics | SMLE Q#11816
SMLE Question #11816
Patient Safety, Preventive & Ethics
Ethics
Objective: OBJ-243
Last updated: February 2026
A 6-year-old girl is brought to a pediatric neurology clinic after several weeks of early-morning headaches, vomiting, and unsteady gait. Brain MRI shows a posterior fossa mass. After further evaluation, the pediatric oncologist meets the parents to discuss results suggesting a malignant brain tumor. The parents become visibly upset and say, “This can’t be cancer; there must be a mistake. We don’t believe this.” What is the most appropriate response by the physician?
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