Checking C return results against NULL

[Laeeth Isharc via Digitalmars-d-learn]

Am I missing a more agreeable way to check the return value of a 
C function against NULL.  It's fine if it's a char*, but if it 
returns a pointer to some kind of struct, one has to go through 
and convert each instance of NULL to a cast of the appropriate 
return type.  Eg cast(funnystruct*)0

   if ((tomime_fields.fld_description==cast(char*)0))
     throw new Exception("show_part_info: description is NULL");