Cancer patients' agony of options

Not that long ago, cancer patients expected their doctors to tell them what to do. Maybe there was only one treatment for a disease anyway. Then patients began to see themselves as consumers. They demanded that their paternalistic doctors start giving them more say about what would happen to their bodies and their lives. They started shopping around and discovered how different doctors and hospitals are. Now many are left feeling responsible for decisions of monumental consequence. Patients may gain a heightened sense of control when they choose their treatments. But that sometimes comes at the price of mental anguish that doctors and hospitals are barely beginning to address. JWR