Anti-anemia drug decreases survival?

Cancer patients frequently experience anemia as the body tightens its control of iron to prevent tumors from growing and spreading. This control is so tight that iron cannot sufficiently get loose to make new red blood cells in the bone marrow. To enhance the quality of life for cancer patients, a drug that boosts a hormone (erythropoietin) in the kidneys, a hormone that boosts red blood cell count, is often prescribed. But there are troubling studies that indicate this drug reduces survival of cancer patients. The patients feel better but die sooner. Survival was worse among patients with breast cancer and the drug actually seemed to encourage tumor growth in patients with head and neck cancer rather than help prevent it. The question is, are cancer patients told any of this? [Lancet Oncology 8: 285, April 2007]