4 ms·
Because cancer patients, at the difference of car accident victims, are legally fully capable of consent. In addition, many people will try anything to live lon
by rscho 9y ago
Because cancer patients, at the difference of car accident victims, are legally fully capable of consent. In addition, many people will try anything to live longer.
Some patients are genuinely willing to contribute as research subjects in the hope of helping others, and this is a good reason to participate. What many people embarking on studies for new treatments do not realize, is that studies are not designed to benefit them personally (random assignation to placebo group, etc.). It is a common perception that people embarking on a clinical trial hoping for a miraculous cure have the wrong attitude, as there is little chance that you will be cured, and it will be a collateral effect even if it does happen.
PS: the above is a widely accepted opinion in current medical ethics.
- Aaargh20318 9y agoBut why does it have to be research only ? Why not just make the treatment available, even if it's not proven yet ? If someone is terminal anyway, then what do they have to lose ?
- QAPereo 9y agoWhat time they have left, and then introduction of needless agony.
- Aaargh20318 9y agoI'd gladly gamble a few weeks of my life for the chance to gain decades.
- QAPereo 9y agoVery few people with terminal illnesses ever face those odds, you're usually trading months for years, or more months.
- rscho 9y agoIn the past week, I have taken care of 2 patients with multimetastatic cancer. Their history is that basically, they suffered pretty much all complications you could think of from their treatment (surgery and chemo). The US healthcare system went to extreme lengths to ensure that those people are "not let down". Their situation now is that they are dependent on family, breathe through a tracheostomy, are blind, unable to move normally due to shortness of breath and neuropathy, and generally have a dismal quality of life. They still come to the clinic once in a while to have the most recent body part affected by metastasis removed. Yet, those people are not on clinical trials because it is felt (not by me mind, but not my call...) that there are still things to be done with presently known treatment methods. All that to say, try to walk in a terminal patient's shoes for a bit, and perhaps you'll discover that the cost of increasing lifetime can be higher than you are willing to pay. Plus, we don't have the manufacturing and logistic capabilities to provide every possible experimental treatment to everyone. Finally, you should realize that a lot of people have financial, academic, or even political interests to incentivize participation in clinical trials. It is precisely to avoid that, that patients must be informed that trials are not designed for one's personal benefit.