What do you think could have been done differently?

A 45-year-old woman fell during an ice storm. She went to the emergency department because she thought she might have broken one or more ribs. When the X-ray results came back, the physician told the patient and her husband that they showed a carcinoid tumor in one lung. The patient had never smoked and was healthy. There was no history of lung cancer in her family. The couple left devastated, with a list of specialists for follow-up.
They spent 3 weeks in testing. Both the patient and her husband assumed from the term carcinoid that she had malignant lung cancer. The patient and her husband had college degrees and held management positions. The physician in the emergency department did not discuss what “carcinoid” meant. The couple’s anxiety rose with each passing day. At a later appointment, it became evident that the couple was not clear on what “carcinoid”
meant and that the couple’s interpretation included more life-threatening implications than necessary