PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Ben Davies TI - The right not to know and the obligation to know AID - 10.1136/medethics-2019-106009 DP - 2020 May 01 TA - Journal of Medical Ethics PG - 300--303 VI - 46 IP - 5 4099 - http://jme.bmj.com/content/46/5/300.short 4100 - http://jme.bmj.com/content/46/5/300.full SO - J Med Ethics2020 May 01; 46 AB - There is significant controversy over whether patients have a ‘right not to know’ information relevant to their health. Some arguments for limiting such a right appeal to potential burdens on others that a patient’s avoidable ignorance might generate. This paper develops this argument by extending it to cases where refusal of relevant information may generate greater demands on a publicly funded healthcare system. In such cases, patients may have an ‘obligation to know’. However, we cannot infer from the fact that a patient has an obligation to know that she does not also have a right not to know. The right not to know is held against medical professionals at a formal institutional level. We have reason to protect patients’ control over the information that they receive, even if in individual instances patients exercise this control in ways that violate obligations.