A questionnaire was developed to evaluate internists' perceptions about patients' survival of cancer as compared with other diseases. The questionnaire consisted of four pairs of survival-matched cancer and non-cancer diseases. The questionnaire was administered to 42 faculty members and 37 resident physicians in the Department of Medicine at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Physicians rated patients' survival of cancer to be significantly lower than patients' survival of comparable non-cancer diseases (p < 0.001). Resident physicians estimated patients' survival of breast cancer to be significantly lower (p < 0.007) and estimated the survival of lung cancer to be significantly higher than the faculty members' estimate (p < 0.003). These physicians' perceptions could adversely affect the quality of care and the degree of consideration given to both cancer and non-cancer patients. The differences observed in faculty members' and resident physicians' responses were attributed to the greater knowledge and clinical experience of faculty rather than differences in attitudes toward cancer.