Is extending life by weeks worth the toll some cancer drugs take? Doctors push for 'common-sense oncology' (The slippery slope of state sanctioned euthanasia.)

CBC news ^ | Mar 11, 2024 | Amina Zafar, Christine Birak

[jerod]

People may celebrate a 2-week improvement in survival without acknowledging costs

Tom Somerville's decision to stop medical treatment for his end-stage cancer was a personal one.

Somerville, 62, was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2021 that later spread to his liver. He had six months of chemotherapy to slow down the cancer, which he said also left him exhausted with nausea.

The Kingston, Ont., resident decided to take a break from treatment to enjoy a trip with his wife to Victoria.

"Things that you cherish change, right?" Somerville said. "I used to love being out in the bush, but now it is just nice to have a sunny day, sit with my family [and] have visitors."

Somerville said he came to terms with his prognosis and decided to enjoy the rest of the life he has left, extending the chemo break to a full stop. He said he was relieved to not "feel crappy" from the treatment anymore.

Dr. Christopher Booth, Somerville's medical oncologist at Kingston General Hospital, supports him in his decision.

Booth is also part of a group of cancer doctors in Canada and the U.S. who say medications with marginal benefits are overused for patients in the end stage of the disease. The oncologists have started a campaign through their website, journal articles and podcasts encouraging honest conversations about use of the drugs with cancer patients, their families and experts.

The goal of what they call "common-sense oncology" is to prioritize treatments that meaningfully improve survival and quality of life. They aim to address what they see as problems in the field, such as a lack of critical thinking in oncology training, falling standards for drug approvals and avoidance of end-of-life discussions...

Dr. Christopher Booth Death.

[Tea Drinker]

Have you looked into Fenbendazole and or Ivermectin?

[9YearLurker]

Beware. Trump and other GOPers have adopted the “common sense” tagline.

[HandBasketHell]

My very limited experience with oncologists is that they are really bad at having end-of-life discussions with terminal patients. I had two friends that died of cancer. Both of them were never told a definite number of how much time they had left. They were both female and both were Stage 4 when diagnosed. Both died around 4 months after diagnosis. It was like the doctors were too chicken to tell them they were terminal. One NEVER got a time estimate from the doctor, and the other was told that “it could be 5 days or 15 years.”

[Osage Orange]

That's the rub.....

I work in HC..and I've seen horrible deaths...Got a guy right now..80 yrs old..with upper AW CA...that is totally miserable. I'm thinking the surgeon told him this would work out....And he agreed... He has a trach,,,and lot's of secretions. Has to be suctioned alot.....He's miserable....

This is why I will quit this biz,,,sooner than later.

[ComputerGuy]

I agree with you. There’s a big difference between me refusing another treatment and suicide. In fact, there’s no connection at all.

[gov_bean_ counter]

Common sense.

There’s that expression again. It turns up with the Left’s death cult more and more…

[mel]

I agree I know many people who have refused further treatment besides palliative treatment.

[mel]

I hope for best for your family

[spacejunkie2001]

cancer drugs AND euthanasia are works of the enemy. The healing power of Jesus Christ, our Great Physician, drives out sickness and disease. This is an equally important part of what Jesus did for us on Calvary; he saved us AND healed us.

Believe the power to heal is yours and it will be.

[reasonisfaith]

Exactly right.

[buckalfa]

"Now we just need to wait and see what the medical boards and experts determine is a ‘reasonable’ amount of time for people to be eligible for treatment."

Well, "death panels" exist for all insurance coverage in America. Medical necessity review. Local coverage determinations. Evidenced based best practices. Oh, don't forget financial decisions forced by deductibles and copays.

[Vermont Lt]

Honestly, my wife was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Five minutes of research will tell you that you don’t want to screw with that one.

Our doctors were great with explanations. And there were a bunch of them. There were some times when the treatments were too extreme. They were great about accommodating change in the treatment times and dosage.

[Pete Dovgan]

Oncology joke

Q”Why do they put nails in coffins?”
A”Keep the Oncologists out”

Seriously, they will give patient Chemo for a estimated 1 week in increased life expectancy with 16 month life expectancy disease. It’s a significant increased life that they advertise for the patient, but neglect to measure that they are sick from the chemo for 16 months, and that it adds only about 1 week. This is real and I have witnessed this scenario before many times. Chemo infusion is big business, and people always grasp at the end. I am not supporting Euthanasia, but people need to know the truth about what they are choosing for treatment options explained so they can understand.

[roadcat]

There is no sense in an Oncologist who treats with chemotherapy spending the time and effort to treat someone who doesn’t agree with his course.

My wife had a wonderful oncologist treating her for multiple cancers. She had colon cancer, resulting in 7 inches of her colon being surgically removed. And she had non-hodgekins lymphoma cancer which was spreading throughout her body. The doctor had her undergo chemotherapy and some radiation treatments, some of which was done daily for a month to treat specific lymph nodes. My wife was drained of energy and in pain, and she told the oncologist that he didn't know what she was enduring. He said he did, and that he sympathized with her. Then my wife found out that the doctor was himself suffering from cancer, and he underwent surgeries and passed away within 6 months. It's been over a dozen years now, and my wife recovered and hasn't had a need for treatments over the last 6 years. All thanks to the regimen recommended by her oncologist.

[lefty-lie-spy]

In general, life should always be valued and saved as a primary goal.
There are too many factors to make a blanket judgement on every end of life circumstance, but yes, I believe life should be treasured and saved in general.

[verum ago]

I had two friends that died of cancer. Both of them were never told a definite number of how much time they had left. They were both female and both were Stage 4 when diagnosed. Both died around 4 months after diagnosis. It was like the doctors were too chicken to tell them they were terminal.

Both my older brothers are doctors, and one is a cancer surgeon. The other regularly deals with cancers.

Unfortunately, per my understanding talking to them, estimates of how long a terminal patient has left are a terrible crap-shoot at best. We (humanity) simply lack the ability to accurately predict remaining lifespan with any reasonable degree of accuracy.

That said, my understanding is that we (again, in the doctor/humanity sense) are pretty good at determining when something is terminal, and a doctor not saying so is indeed chickenshit.

“it could be 5 days or 15 years.”

This is the sort of situation that keeps one of my brothers up at night, per his own confession- because sometimes this horribly wide degree of prediction is the absolute best modern medicine can provide. It haunts him when he gets such a patient. He loses sleep for weeks at a time when this sort of situation happens, because he knows how horrible and vague a burden it is when he lays this on someone.

When he lays this sort of vague prognosis on someone it eats him up inside, because he knows how horrible it is for his patient and their family, but it's the best he can do... He's a God-fearing family man with a wife and 3 daughters, and you should see what such a vague diagnosis does to him when it's the best he can do...

[zeebee]

Many treatments serve not to prolong life, but to prolong death.

[Yo-Yo]

Having lost both parents to cancer, I don't think that either one of them enjoyed the extra 3-6 months that chemotherapy gave them.

That being said, most cancer patients are over 65 and on Medicare, so the government is footing the bill for most of these outrageously expensive chemotherapy treatments, and I'm sure Medicare would love to save billions on refusing end-of-life chemo for patients with a less than 1 year prognosis.

It should be up to the patient to accept or refuse chemo, NOT THE GOVERNMENT OR INSURER.

[DIRTYSECRET]

Can Trump deal with this next January? The congressional role would be to eliminate every health care program by Dec 31, 2025. That will give the new administration a year to come up with a solution that covers(as he has said)everybody.

I’d put the nurses in charge of it. They are the caregivers. The only guideline is that it’s market based.
Illegals. Get them out of the country first. We’ll have one year to do it.

[rellic]

“I think you are totally off base equating a patient’s refusal of end-stage cancer treatment with euthanasia.”

I agree. I had two brothers die because they refused treatment. One of them had gone through the entire regiment
and got a few extra years of life, broke, out of work, and basically mobility limited. He went into remission and refused to do those painful treatments again.
Palliative care works and YOU make the decision.