Published 31 July 2008, doi:10.1136/bmj.a868
Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a868

Editorials

Informed consent and palliative chemotherapy

Better information is needed about prognosis and treatment, along with decision aids to help patients interpret it

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Informed consent is central to management decisions in modern medical practice. However, sharing information with patients about the value of chemotherapy for advanced metastatic cancer is highly challenging. In the linked study (doi: 10.1136/bmj.a752), Audrey and colleagues assess how much oncologists tell patients about the survival benefit of palliative chemotherapy during the first consultation after a diagnosis of metastatic colorectal cancer, pancreatic cancer, or non-small cell lung cancer.¹

Although chemotherapeutic options have improved, life expectancy in people with metastatic cancer is often short, survival benefits of treatment may be modest, and the potential for unpleasant or life threatening side effects is high. Nevertheless, chemotherapy is increasingly given closer to the end of life,² and patients are having to decide whether or not to have treatment at the same time as facing the harsh realities of dying.

To make informed choices, patients need up to date consistent information and comprehensive . . . [Full text of this article]

¹ Myton Hamlet Hospice, Warwick CV34 6PX, ² Mount Vernon Cancer Centre, Mount Vernon Hospital, Middlesex. HA6 2RN

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Articles

What oncologists tell patients about survival benefits of palliative chemotherapy and implications for informed consent: qualitative study

Suzanne Audrey, Julian Abel, Jane M Blazeby, Stephen Falk, and Rona Campbell
BMJ 2008 337: a752. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

A systematic review of physicians' survival predictions in terminally ill cancer patients

Paul Glare, Kiran Virik, Mark Jones, Malcolm Hudson, Steffen Eychmuller, John Simes, and Nicholas Christakis
BMJ 2003 327: 195. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Cancer patients' information needs and information seeking behaviour: in depth interview study

Geraldine M Leydon, Mary Boulton, Clare Moynihan, Alison Jones, Jean Mossman, Markella Boudioni, and Klim McPherson
BMJ 2000 320: 909-913. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Narrative based medicine: Stories we hear and stories we tell: analysing talk in clinical practice

Glyn Elwyn and Richard Gwyn
BMJ 1999 318: 186-188. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Preferences for chemotherapy in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer: descriptive study based on scripted interviews

Gerard Silvestri, Robert Pritchard, and H Gilbert Welch
BMJ 1998 317: 771-775. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Online poll

Find out more >>