Health Affairs has published a moving essay and podcast on the power of effective communication in the doctor-patient relationship. . . 'I Don't Want Jenny To Think I'm Abandoning Her': Views On Overtreatment Diane E. Meier The article, published in the current issue of Health Affairs , the leading journal of health policy thought and research,centers on an experience with a cancer patient whose oncologist was struggling to give up on experimental treatment. The problem, as Dr. Meier came to realize through palliative care consultations with her patient, as well as discussions with the patient's oncologist, was not that the oncologist lacked compassion but instead lacked the proper training to discuss the realities of the illness with the patient. "To change behavior, we must change the education and training of young physicians and the professional and clinical culture in which they practice."