[metaobject]

I guess I'm just shocked that the surgeon could offer that level of assurance about something like that.

[astura]

Unbelievable! The five year survival rate for lung cancer is only 18%! Even when the cancer is localized the five year survival rate is only 55%![1]

It's irresponsible for the doctor to not give a reasonable prognosis!

[1]http://www.lung.org/lung-health-and-diseases/lung-disease-lo...

[user5994461]

Maybe lung cancer wasn't as understood 20 years ago as today.

[mjfl]

we should find this person and sue them for what I'm sure is a 100% accurate retelling of a 20-year old story on hacker news.

[jpmattia]

> I guess I'm just shocked that the surgeon could offer that level of assurance about something like that

I'm not. That's been my experience with pretty much every surgeon, and even a fair amount of the non-surgical doctors. Letting patients see uncertainty and indecision is not part of the medical school culture, as near as I can tell.

It behooves anyone with serious medical issues to do independent research. (God help you if you don't already know how to deep learn on literature not in your field.)