4 ms·

I definitely agree making it available is a good thing. However, I'd take exception to 'it can only do good'. I've had a loved one opt for experimental treatme

I definitely agree making it available is a good thing. However, I'd take exception to 'it can only do good'. I've had a loved one opt for experimental treatment that was ineffective, and made the last months of his life more painful and separated from his family (treatment was in another city). I'm not saying we would choose differently if we were faced with it again, but in some respects I wonder if it was more a service to our peace of mind at having done all we could than it was for his comfort or happiness.

derefr 7y ago
If that treatment didn't exist, your loved one would have opted for some other experimental treatment, no? So the existence of said treatment didn't make their life worse relative to that particular treatment not existing. (Rather, the existence of a class of experimental treatments for a particular cancer that maybe don't work, makes life worse for people, but once there's one, there's no harm in adding more, only potential benefit in at least one of them maybe working.)
zeta0134 7y ago
Mind here that it can also be for the patient's peace of mind. My grandfather was faced with a similar dilemna, terminally ill from pancreatic cancer, with a long-shot to try to cure it. The doctors were wonderfully frank about the potential for failure and "time lost"; even still, he opted to go down fighting. Alas, his liver wasn't strong enough to sustain the treatment, and it just ended up killing him faster. He was a spiritual man and didn't seem regret the decision, but his family had a harder time with it. They were arguing for something closer to hospice, and wanted to take him traveling to enjoy the last months of his life in relative peace. In the end, that didn't get to happen. There will always be a twinge of regret, I think. One can always look back and ask, "what if we had done it this way?" But it was the way he wanted to go, and I think the knowledge that he had tried everything that he could helped him to find peace.
- asdfasgasdgasdg 7y ago
  I'm glad that your grandfather was happy with his decision. But from a policy perspective, there's a question to be asked about whether it makes sense to spend tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars on treatments that likely kill people faster. Even if that is what those people want, their needs have to be balanced with others who need the scarce resources that are allocated to the health system. (On the other hand if this was an experiment and it just didn't go his way, that's another story. We need brave people to accept these experimental treatments sometimes to find whether they work.)

derefr 7y ago

If that treatment didn't exist, your loved one would have opted for some other experimental treatment, no? So the existence of said treatment didn't make their life worse relative to that particular treatment not existing. (Rather, the existence of a class of experimental treatments for a particular cancer that maybe don't work, makes life worse for people, but once there's one, there's no harm in adding more, only potential benefit in at least one of them maybe working.)

zeta0134 7y ago

Mind here that it can also be for the patient's peace of mind. My grandfather was faced with a similar dilemna, terminally ill from pancreatic cancer, with a long-shot to try to cure it. The doctors were wonderfully frank about the potential for failure and "time lost"; even still, he opted to go down fighting. Alas, his liver wasn't strong enough to sustain the treatment, and it just ended up killing him faster. He was a spiritual man and didn't seem regret the decision, but his family had a harder time with it. They were arguing for something closer to hospice, and wanted to take him traveling to enjoy the last months of his life in relative peace. In the end, that didn't get to happen. There will always be a twinge of regret, I think. One can always look back and ask, "what if we had done it this way?" But it was the way he wanted to go, and I think the knowledge that he had tried everything that he could helped him to find peace.

asdfasgasdgasdg 7y ago
I'm glad that your grandfather was happy with his decision. But from a policy perspective, there's a question to be asked about whether it makes sense to spend tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars on treatments that likely kill people faster. Even if that is what those people want, their needs have to be balanced with others who need the scarce resources that are allocated to the health system. (On the other hand if this was an experiment and it just didn't go his way, that's another story. We need brave people to accept these experimental treatments sometimes to find whether they work.)