(NaturalNews) The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) will soon encourage doctors to discuss the financial costs of chemotherapy as one of the side effects that patients should consider in deciding which treatment to proceed with, or whether to use treatment at all.
Many cancer patients know that they cannot be cured, but use drugs to seek a longer and higher quality life for the time that they have. For these patients in particular, the cost of drugs can be an important factor. Dr. Leonard Saltz of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center points to two different drugs for metastatic colon cancer, one of which costs $60,000 more than the other.
The more expensive drug does not cause hair loss, but can cause damage to hands and feet. While these alternate side effects are normally discussed with patients, many doctors feel uncomfortable discussing cost……read more here…
Before we begin discussing finances with the patients, don’t you feel that doctors should be comfortable discussing end of life issues. Palliative care for many is not only cost effective, but for many a more dignified and humane way to live out the a patient’s last days.
The real discussion is do doctors feel like failures if they don’t have a medical cure? What if no treatment is not only cost effective, but in the best interest of the patient, where do doctors stand on that issue.
When doctors become more comfortable discussing death and dying maybe we can discuss the financial end of treatment. Until then don’t blame the patient for wanting hope that can only be offered by doctors providing costly chemotherapy.