Information and choice in decisions about cancer treatment

EDITOR, - We support L J Fallowfield and colleagues' conclusions that patients' “desire for autonomy may be less strong than the need for clear and accurate information” and that patients “have the right to decline the opportunity to participate in decision making.”1 In a study of 165 patients treated for Hodgkin's disease within protocols of the British national lymphoma investigation, with a median interval from diagnosis of eight years, we examined patients' participation in decision making and the provision of information and choice. Of …