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I used to work at M.D. Anderson and I can attest to their quality of care. People travel from around the world to receive treatment, for good reason. Also, my
by rch 10y ago
I used to work at M.D. Anderson and I can attest to their quality of care. People travel from around the world to receive treatment, for good reason.
Also, my mother was a patient there. She started treatment just a couple of months after I got my job actually. She's still doing well years later, and is glad she waited an extra month to get into M.D Anderson. The decision to wait was excruciating though.
- caycep 10y agoBut...Ohio has Cleveland Clinic, Case Western University Hospital, Ohio State Medical Center...it is not like it is a total medical backwater. Cynically, Cleveland Clinic has an InterContinental hotel inside the hospital for visiting dignitaries/medical tourists...
- SOLAR_FIELDS 10y agoDefinitely not - but in cases where healthcare is involved, especially cancer, people are motivated to travel to what is considered the best. In cancer's case, it's the big three: MD Anderson, Sloan-Kettering, or the Mayo Clinic.
- bryan11 10y agoOne more data point: Our pediatrician has always been great and keeps up with new treatments and such. When her husband was diagnosed with cancer, she said immediately they were leaving Iowa to get better cancer care. That said a lot.
- SOLAR_FIELDS 10y agoThe reasoning seems pretty cut and dry as well in consideration with cancer - the patient wants to live, and is likely going to be spending tens of thousands of dollars on care already - what's another few thousand to relocate and live where the best care is available?
- no_protocol 10y agoYou seem to have some firsthand knowledge of the situation, maybe you can help me with the question I posed earlier. This medical center in Texas seems to be providing a great level of service. I am wondering why patients need to attend directly to get this level of care. I thought that medical findings were published in journals and shared among professionals in the field. If M.D. Anderson has a dozen (or a hundred) doctors that are experienced in the treatment of certain diseases, why aren't they sending half of those doctors out to other parts of the world to spread that knowledge?
- ihodes 10y agoYour questions are very good, and I answer them below briefly in the interest of expediency, not to be rude. 1. Some knowledge is shared in journals; most knowledge isn't published until years after it's established. Much is never published, and is learned through word of math, and institutionally encoded. MD Anderson is world-renowned for being a center for excellence in cancer care. 2. Doctors don't read every article published in every journal related to their work. Even if they did, or read much of it, synthesizing into practice is a very different (and difficult) matter. Many of them don't read at all. 3. Why would MDs want to be send worldwide? And why would MD Anderson want to send them all over? Who pays for this? How can a doctor affect change in a large hospital system?
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- rch 10y agoI think the systems of institutions and people that treat cancer reflect the complexity of the problem itself. The research atmosphere and constant professional development are just as important as individual bedside interactions. That said, all of the hospitals mentioned here are doing amazing things every day, and finding the best place for treatment really does come down to the specifics of each case.