So I had this dream once..

[AChimp]

I've had a couple uncles die of lung cancer, and my neighbour died of it a few years ago. Long, painful slow process of sitting around and waiting to die and wishing that you hadn't smoked an entire tin every two days. Actually, one of those uncles technically died of a stroke BEFORE the cancer got him (good ol' genetics kicked in first).

My point is that it's highly irresponsible of the doctor to play the cancer card with 100% certainty in the amount of time it takes to buy a donut, especially when there are a host of OTHER things that come first in the diagnosis hierarchy. How about running a few simple cultures on the sputum? D'oh!

Instead it's, "Hullo! Highly impressionable religious family at twelve o'clock! What sounds really gross and fatal?"