TO GO WITH FEATURE HEALTH CANCER DOCTORS, 2001-06-18 (photo)

Many doctors treating terminal cancer patients either exaggerate how much time they have left to live or withhold that crucial piece of information even with death just weeks away, according to a study released on June 18, 2001. Researchers at the University of Chicago Medical Center found that physicians were willing to provide patients their best assessment of how long the patient could expect to live in only 37 percent of cases studied. The researchers questioned 258 Chicago-area doctors who referred 326 terminally ill cancer patients to end-of-life care at one of five hospices in 1996. They asked the doctors to estimate how long a patient was likely to live, and asked them what they would say if the patient insisted on hearing an assessment of probable survival time. Dr. Elizabeth Lamont speaks to a patient receiving chemotherapy. ME