The New York Times reports this week how doctors are, let's face it, sometimes less than eloquent when it comes to breaking the grim news to a patient who is not going to survive. It makes sense too, the disconnected nature in which doctors deliver the news of a shortened life, considering that doctors are scientists -- people who must maintain an objective aura in their jobs.

Because of this dilemma, palliatve care has become a subspecialty in the medical world, with fellowships, hospital departments and medical school courses aimed at managing patients’ last months. It has also become a focus of attacks on plans to overhaul the nation’s medical system, with false but persistent rumors that the government will set up “death panels” to decide who deserves treatment. Many physicians dismiss these complaints as an absurd caricature of what palliative medicine is all about.

Check out the full 6 page article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/20/health/20doctors.html?_r=1&ref=health