Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Questions cancer patients should ask

Questions Patients Should Ask
By JANE E. BRODY, Published: August 19, 2008

Patients armed with clear-cut facts are often able to make wiser choices about their care. Yet doctors are often reluctant to broach these matters.

In their review in The Journal of the American Medical Association of the role of chemotherapy at the end of life, Dr. Thomas J. Smith and Dr. Sarah Elizabeth Harrington listed these questions to ask — of professionals and of yourself — when considering chemotherapy that is unlikely to cure the cancer but may extend the length and quality of life.

Books on Doctors as Patients and a few on the Doctor-Patient Relationship