Which virtue emphasizes telling the truth consistently?

• A. Veracity
• B. Fidelity
• C. Autonomy
• D. Dignity

Answer: (A)

Veracity is the virtue that emphasizes telling the truth consistently. In health care and bioethics, honesty in all communications—providing accurate information, avoiding deception, and being forthcoming about diagnoses, risks, and options—builds trust between clinicians and patients and supports informed decision-making. This enduring commitment to truth-telling is what veracity captures.

Fidelity, by contrast, centers on keeping promises and being loyal and trustworthy in relationships. Autonomy focuses on respecting a patient’s right to make their own decisions. Dignity concerns recognizing and treating every person as having inherent worth. While these are important, they do not specifically target consistent truth-telling in the same way veracity does, which is why it’s the best fit for this question.