"Dying cancer patients should not be given 'futile' drugs" - That is the title of Martin Beckford's article in the Telegraph reporting on this Lancet Oncology Commission report, “Delivering Affordable Cancer Care in High-Income Countries.”
Similar to an ASCO report from this spring, the LOC finds that “in developed countries, cancer treatment is becoming a culture of excess. We overdiagnose, overtreat, and overpromise." Among other factors driving “overutilization,” the Report notes:
- It is “quicker and easier” to order treatment or a scan than to tell a patient it may not be necessary or worthwhile
- The fear of being sued if clinicians fail to take every possible course of action
- Demand from patients who do not personally pay the bills
- Both doctors and patients need to be educated about the cost-effectiveness of available treatments.
- "The cancer community needs to take responsibility and not accept a substandard evidence base and an ethos of very small benefit at whatever cost."
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