A woman in her early 50s came to my emergency department because she had been short of breath on and off for two weeks, and had coughed up a bit of blood. A doctor at a local health center had prescribed an inhaler and antibiotics for bronchitis. When that didn’t help, she came to the hospital.

I ordered a battery of tests, and when I saw her chest X-ray, my heart dropped. There was a large, round spot in her lung. The radiologist told me he was concerned it was cancer. I broke the news to her and her family.