The article is entitled" Cancer Doctors Dodge the Death Talk" published on the CNN.com/health website. Citing recent research, the authors highlight four points:
-Most cancer doctors do not discuss end-of-life care
-Those who had end-of-life talks are less likely to be on breathing machines
-About 7 percent of all patients in the study develop depression
-Sometimes doctors have trouble accepting that the end is near

The research supports the efforts being made to encourage doctors and patients to have end-of-life talks as early on in the treatment process as is possible and appropriate. From the perspective of a chaplain, I believe it would also be important for doctors to suggest chaplaincy resources to the patient and caregivers, so that they can receive the benefits of holistic care in the context of advanced care planning.

The CNN artcle can be viewed at: http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/conditions/06/15/cancer.talk.ap/index.html