Ridiculous Study
Here is another example where common sense could have saved a lot of time and effort. A New England Journal of Medicine study concluded that the majority of terminal cancer patients believe that chemo will save them. This article talks about the “shocking” discovery but isn’t this just human nature? To believe and hope? Here is what the lead author said:
The co-author of an accompanying editorial, Dr. Thomas J. Smith, said what really matters is what people understand about their disease. “As long as these people are still planning for the worst, it’s wonderful if they can be hoping for the best,” he said.
Actually, isn’t he giving false hope again? Chemo is expensive. Chemo is brutal. But we all want to live forever and things will not change because of that.
Ignorance, or denial? Either way, that’s what makes oncologists, in my book, the most fun, positive group of specialists with which I’ve ever worked-they run with what they have and keep looking for the silver lining.
I don’t think the oncologists go out of their way to disabuse people of these notions either.
Actually, they were looking at the prevalence of ignorance about the curative power of chemo in lung & colorectal patients. This might be useful as proof that the healthcare industry needs to do a better job of educating/counseling these patients. Couldn’t have been that expensive/time consuming a study.