But there exists a difficult philosophical problem. We all know it is not so easy for patients to say their real needs and wishes to their physicians because there is usually unequal power relationship between the two parties. Similar things may happen in the case of the patient-nurse relationship. Nurses are really compassionate. They care patients in a way most people never be able to perform.
Patients have full of gratitude toward nurses.
This is, in a sense, another form of paternalism. Of course Ersoy et al. know this very well. But, at the same time, nurses passion for knowing patient's real needs and wishes may sometimes suppress the patient's courage to tell the real wishes when the patient love the nurse's personality and her passion. As Ersoy et al. point out, nurses become paternalistic when patients are children. This reflects the parent-child relationship in a family everywhere in the world.