British doctors row over claim that cancer offers the best death

Cancer researchers in Britain were outraged Thursday over an eminent doctor's claim that their efforts to find a cure were misguided because the disease offered a better death than alternatives like organ failure and dementia, dpa reported.
Cancer Research UK chief clinician Peter Johnson said in a statement that the billions spent annually on finding a cure was money well spent because cancer killed the young as well as the old and 'the more we know about cancer, the more we can give people options.
' Professor Johnson was responding to a blog post in the prestigious British Medical Journal (BMJ) from Richard Smith, a former BMJeditor.
Smith wrote that 'death from cancer is the best' because 'you can say goodbye, reflect on your life, leave last messages, perhaps visit special places for a last time, listen to favorite pieces of music, read loved poems, and prepare, according to your beliefs, to meet your maker or enjoy eternal oblivion.'