The implications of the decision to treat a terminally ill patient are multidimensional, but the ultimate goal should be to help patients with a peaceful life-death transition.
To that end, education and training of oncologists on end of life care, managing expectations of patients and communication skills are important, as is the role of the media in promoting the importance and complexities of navigating quality end of life care and discouraging the ‘war’ metaphor for cancer.
It is also the case that prescribing drugs in the last 6 months of life constitutes a substantial proportion of total healthcare costs, and we may be able to avoid some of these costs if patients better understand the benefit/risk trade-off offered by anticancer drugs tested in this population.
Lynch Syndrome Ireland 