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Calhan, CO
A 27-year-old female asked:

Doctors told my dad with stage 4 lung cancer & copd whom isn't doing well that he could live from 1 to 3 years. do doctors lie to protect patients? we (family & friends) aren't expecting him to live even six months at his current condition.

1 doctor answer2 doctors weighed in
Dr. Sridhar Shankar
Specializes in Radiology
Depends: No one knows how long a cancer patient will live. At best it is an educated guess based on a umber of assumptions like chemo/other treatment, condition of the patient, rate of progression, etc. Some physicians like to be optimistic, some like to underquote.
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Dr. David Fertel
Vascular Surgery 37 years experience
sorry to say , but your family is probably closer.
Dec 14, 2017
Last updated Apr 5, 2020

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