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"To Help Them Live Their Lives the Way They Want to"

Amy J. Markowitz, JD; Stephen J. McPhee, MD

JAMA. 2003;290:2056.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

On July 2, 2002,¹ authors Elizabeth B. Lamont, MD, MS, and Nicholas Christakis, MD, PhD, MPH, introduced Miss M, an 83-year-old woman. She had presented to Dr D on August 2, 1999, with several suspicious skin lesions on her abdomen. Dr D suspected metastatic cancer. A couple of weeks later, she was admitted to the hospital with abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting and was found to have an infiltrative narrowing of the colon. Biopsy results showed adenocarcinoma suggestive of gastric origin. The patient and physician had a thorough discussion of chemotherapy vs comfort-oriented therapy. On the basis of the additional pathological finding of estrogen-receptor-positive cells, Dr D suggested an empiric trial of hormonal therapy with tamoxifen as an alternative to chemotherapy, which Miss M accepted. At that time, in the presence of supportive friends and family, Dr D told Miss M that . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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