I lied to a person with terminal cancer about my role in her treatment study

I was a research assistant in an oncology lab for my undergraduate thesis, and the PI of the lab was the principal investigator on a phase II study of a new cancer drug.<br><br>One of the research assistants on the lab was a cancer patient herself, and as part of her care she had to be on the study drug. It was a first in man study, so she was the third person to take the drug. And she was one of the first people I met on the ward when I started volunteering as well.<br><br>She was very sick. She had an aggressive form of leukemia. She was admitted to the hospital every other week for treatment. And she was not responding to the treatment. She was also very sick, as she had a central line placed and had spent months receiving chemotherapy, so she was very weak and had a lot of side effects from all the medication she was on.<br><br>The PI of the lab and I were both very worried about her, as she was not responding well to treatment and she was very sick. We also felt terrible because she had to take this drug that had never been given to a human before. So when she asked what we thought the chances were she would respond to the drug, the PI and I both said that the chances of her responding to the drug were 20%. The truth was that we had no idea if she would respond, and we were trying a new drug because nothing else had been working.<br><br>She responded very well to the drug, and she is still alive 4 years later.<br><br>I feel terrible about lying to her. It was the first time I felt like I had lied to someone that could have impacted their life in a negative way. I have lied about other things since, and I would not say that I have never lied in the past. But this is the one that bothers me the most, as I was so worried that she was going to die and I lied to her just to make her feel better, but I know that lying is bad.<br><br>&#x200B;