Study: Patients don't discuss hospice care

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., May 25 (UPI) -- A U.S. study of lung cancer patients found that half of them did not discuss hospice care with their doctors.

The study by researchers at Harvard Medical School found that blacks and Hispanic patients were significantly less likely to discuss a hospice with their physician within four to seven months after diagnosis than were whites and Asians.

"Many terminally ill patients who might benefit from hospice aren't discussing it with their physicians and may not be aware of the services hospice could offer," said Haiden Huskamp, the study's lead author.

For the study, Harvard researchers surveyed 1,517 patients diagnosed with metastatic lung cancer.

The study's findings were published in the May 25 edition of the Archives of Internal Medicine.